


The Call of the Void

by dragonlover



Category: The Boys (TV 2019)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Awkward Crush, BDSM, Betrayal, Bisexuality, Corruption, Dubious Consent, Enemies, F/F, F/M, Manipulation, Multi, Nazis, Power Dynamics, Racism, Warnings May Change, recontextualizing canon scenes, the title means 'attraction to danger'
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:00:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 29,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27595846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonlover/pseuds/dragonlover
Summary: In a slight AU where Starlight and Stormfront are both bi, they have a little flirty thing before the Liberty reveal. Starlight dedicates her energy to taking Stormfront down while unable to stop being attracted to her. Stormfront toys with her while devoted to her own evil agenda. While absolutely convinced that she can withstand Stormfront's attempts to sway her to the dark side, Starlight is unprepared for Stormfront's talent for manipulation and slowly becomes more and more useful to her.
Relationships: Starlight | Annie January/Stormfront, Starlight | Annie January/Stormfront (The Boys)/The Homelander | John
Comments: 35
Kudos: 46





	1. By Any Other Name

**Author's Note:**

> There are aspects of Stormfront that I find compelling, but just so we're clear: Fuck Nazis.
> 
> ...
> 
> But not like that.

Stormfront was hot. That was the first thing Annie noticed about her. Anyone could see it.

She had a nice figure: a pretty face, unblemished skin, decently-sized breasts, a squeezable butt by anyone who was into that sort of thing (not that Annie was looking), all tightly-wrapped in a badass gothic costume. However, what caught Annie’s interest the most was her self-confidence. It just radiated off of her. This was a woman who never asked permission; she just knew what she wanted and took whatever steps were necessary to achieve it. She was so different from Annie.

That was what drew Annie to her. The first time she met her, just before the Girls Get It Done interview shoot, Annie knew she was destined to be friends with her. It was like electricity.

Of course, Annie couldn’t help but notice they were both elementally electrical. Stormfront generated her own electricity, and Annie borrowed it, but they both wielded it as superheroes. It was like God designed them to be together.

Together.

Annie wanted to hold her hand. It was stupid, but something about Stormfront called out to her. It made her feel all tingly, and she yearned for Stormfront’s touch. The touch of a very good friend.

All girls would react this way, right? Who wouldn’t recognize just how hot Stormfront was? Why wouldn’t Annie want to be around someone that awesome?

She wasn’t stupid. She knew this felt like a crush, the kind she hadn’t had since she was young. But she also knew she wasn’t gay. For goodness’ sake, she kissed boys and liked it just fine! She was sorta kinda in a relationship with Hughie right now!

And yet, if she had to kiss Stormfront… Like, if Ashley told her that her new image involved kissing Stormfront? She wouldn’t exactly mind it.

Stormfront had lovely lips. They looked very kissable. Annie couldn’t help but stare.

“I got something on my face?” Stormfront challenged her, eyebrow quirking interrogatively.

“Nice lipstick,” Annie mumbled, turning away in embarrassment.

“Oh, are we gonna trade makeup tips and talk about boys?” Stormfront laughed derisively.

“It just makes you look good,” she said, shyly glancing at her face.

Stormfront almost smiled. Her amusement was palpable all the same. “Ah. You also ‘look good’ with that makeup Vought slathered across your face.”

Despite the rude tone, there was something about it that resonated with Annie. Stormfront kinda both gave her a compliment and implied she didn’t need it to look attractive, that neither of them did, which was probably true.

“You’d, um… probably look just as good without it,” she ventured, saying aloud the subtext she thought she heard.

Stormfront glanced at her askance, like she was sizing Annie up. Maybe she was trying to figure out if Annie was mocking her.

Annie smiled pleasantly to show her goodwill.

Stormfront snorted and looked away. She took her phone out of her bag and thumbed through it. “Yeah, you too, Starlight.”

Her tone was hard to read. Annie chose to interpret it as a compliment and felt warm inside. Stormfront thought she was pretty…

Then they had to sit still and let Vought interview them for their promos. Stormfront was clearly just as annoyed by it as Annie was, especially with the whole girl power motif they had to put on. Strangely, that shared contempt for the personas Vought pushed on them put them on the same team far more than just happening to be female superheroes in the Seven. They’d make small groans when uncomfortable demands were made of them, and they nodded at each other in shared discomfort.

Stormfront finally started to relax and muttered jokes to Annie, mocking the Vought employees who annoyed them. So relieved to have a friend who shared her perspective, Annie laughed freely and smiled at her. Stormfront accepted her reaction and was encouraged to make more jokes, some of them a little edgy, bordering on inappropriate, but it somehow felt fine coming from her mouth. Annie could understand that Stormfront was just like that, a little rough around the edges but a smart woman who deserved respect.

The interview questions were repetitive and many of them were annoying. However, some were just uncomfortable to answer. Was Starlight single, America wanted to know?

“Single,” she answered, first thinking of Hughie and how the Seven couldn’t be allowed to know about their continued semi-relationship. “Single. Yes, Single.”

After a while, though, her thoughts shifted to the woman sitting beside her. When she answered, “Single,” she couldn’t help but wonder if Stormfront might be the person to turn that “Single” into a “Taken.”

It was stupid. Annie certainly wasn’t gay, and she was pretty sure Stormfront wasn’t either.

“Single.”

So, there wasn’t any point in thinking about it, was there?

“Single.”

She glanced at Stormfront, wondering what she was thinking when Annie answered, “Single.”

“Single,” Stormfront answered beside her when asked the same question. She bore no sign of sending Annie any kind of signal. She just looked bored. However, Annie had to wonder if she might just be communicating availability.

It was stupid, of course. Stormfront wasn’t gay. Annie wasn’t gay. But still…

Finally, the interviews annoyed Stormfront so much that she stopped sitting quietly and snapped at the Vought members tormenting them with their cheesy girl power rhetoric. “Why does it matter if heroes have a dick or a vag?”

Annie tried not to smile.

Stormfront went on to criticize their costumes for being too tight for pockets. “You can see every crease in my ass.”

Annie was aware. Not that she was looking.

Stormfront leaned over and appeared to stare directly at Annie’s crotch. “You can practically see up Starlight’s uterus.”

Oh, God! Annie felt her cheeks heat. There was a corresponding sensation of heat from down below that she couldn’t quite account for, so she tried to ignore it.

Stormfront straightened and continued talking about their costumes. If she hadn’t just embarrassed Annie so badly, she might think Stormfront didn’t care about her at all. But this was… she felt almost sure… flirting. Maybe.

If Stormfront were into girls, this would possibly be how someone like her would flirt, coming on strong and then abating to keep Annie flustered. It just so happened to be identical to how someone not flirting would act. It kept her wondering.

After the interview shoots, Annie tried to talk to Stormfront again. She tried to get in her good graces by agreeing with her criticism of Vought, but she botched the delivery. Stormfront was first on guard about Annie possibly trying to dig up dirt on her on behalf of Vought, and then when she urged Annie to decisively condemn Vought, Annie was too worried about getting caught to go through with it.

Stormfront was visibly angry but instead of simply taking it out on her, she cooled off and tried to offer her advice. “Who’s the greatest superhero of all time?”

There was only one acceptable answer. If Annie didn’t say it, she would be in hot water. If Stormfront didn’t say it, so would she. “Homelander?”

“No, Pippi Longstocking!”

And just like that, Stormfront circumvented the Seven’s internal politics. If she named any real superhero, she would be subverting Homelander’s authority and find herself in the crosshairs. By naming a children’s book character, she came off as playful, ineffectual, and silly, keeping her out of danger, but she was smart about it. Through the metaphor of Pippi Longstocking, something so abstract Homelander could not possibly compete with, Stormfront was able to criticize Homelander, Vought, and Annie without ever endangering her social standing in the Seven. She had a masterful grasp of rhetoric!

Annie just had to stare at Stormfront in admiration. She played herself off as so fun and diminutive, but she was strong and smart as a whip. Even when criticizing Annie, she said it so charismatically that Annie had to take it under consideration.

“Oh, and if someone sticks a dick in your mouth, bite it off,” Stormfront suggested as she headed out. “Pippi Longstocking would bite a D! That’s for damn sure!”

It wasn’t exactly what Annie would call helpful advice. She couldn’t have literally bitten off the Deep’s dick, but she got the general point: be tougher, be self-assured, be like Stormfront.

Stormfront didn’t know it, but Annie was already on her way to doing that. She manipulated Gecko to get a sample of V, intimidated A-Train into letting her keep it, and sent it off to the press to undermine Vought. In a sense, she was biting all their D’s.

When news of Compound V came out, she watched in awe as Stormfront took advantage of it to rally her followers against Vought. She barely seemed to mind the loss of her status as the presumed reincarnation of a Norse goddess. The girl experimented on by mad scientists had enough power as a social media icon to compete with Homelander, even feeling comfortable arguing with him directly.

After the superterrorists working with Hughie delayed Homelander in the heat of battle, it was Stormfront who took up the slack. She was too late to stop one from slaughtering an entire housing complex, but she killed him before Homelander could even get there. Like her metaphor of Pippi Longstocking, Stormfront was emerging as a true hero, someone perhaps even better than Homelander. She was amazing. She was… no one who would be remotely interested in Annie.

So, she went back to Hughie, and he invited her along on a road trip with his rebel friend M.M., to investigate the retired superhero Liberty. She found herself falling back in love with him after their estrangement. She could see herself, one day, after this was all over, settling down and having a nice life with him. And then they went to Valerie Hunter’s place and heard her sad story of how Liberty racially profiled her brother and murdered him for a crime he didn’t commit. It shocked Annie that a superhero could be so racist, so evil. However, it was nothing compared to the shock that followed when Miss Hunter claimed that Liberty was still alive and showed them a picture of Stormfront.

Annie wanted to deny it. She wanted it to be wrong or a malicious lie, but she knew it wasn’t. Liberty was an evil racist, and Stormfront was Liberty. It was like a weight settled in her stomach. She felt like throwing up.

She didn’t really know Stormfront, but she thought she had. This glimpse of Stormfront’s true character repulsed her. It felt like a betrayal. She had built up Stormfront in her mind, imagined what it would be like to be in a relationship with her, and it felt like Stormfront personally betrayed her trust.

Clenching her fists, she made herself a promise. She would both take revenge and redeem herself for her attraction to a racist predator. She would take Stormfront down.


	2. Sublime Discourse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sublime  
> (adj.)
> 
> 1\. Deep satisfaction
> 
> 2\. Profound terror

After weeks of Stormfront giving Annie the cold shoulder, and Annie wondering how to get back into her good graces, Annie was now glad that Stormfront wasn’t in her life. How horrible would that be, to be good friends with a racist murderer? So, of course, now that they were shooting  _ Dawn of the Seven _ , Stormfront was firmly embedded in her life.

The film crew ordered a Vietnamese food truck, and Annie went over to the meal tent for lunch and found her mother sitting at a table, talking to Stormfront like they were old friends. A chill went down her spine. Annie would have once loved to see Stormfront taking an interest in her and her family, but now her stomach turned, like seeing the rotten remains of a once-enjoyed meal.

“Mom?” Annie approached them.

“Oh, hi,” Stormfront said cheerfully. She took a bite of her food and licked her lips. It was… Ah, shit. It was sexy. 

Annie cringed. Why did it have to affect her like that? Those dark-painted lips… that pink tongue… belonged to someone evil.

“Annie.” Her mother awkwardly stood. “Oh, you look so pretty.”

Stormfront raised her eyebrows and smiled at Annie. It was a cute, playful gesture, almost flirtatious. She should have felt warm inside, but she felt only its ghost: a chill to make her shiver.

She turned away from Stormfront and faced her mother. “What are you doing here?”

“I- I’m in town,” her mother stammered. “I’ve been texting you for days. I wasn’t trying to ambush you, I promise.”

“Did you get any of the Vietnamese crepes?” Stormfront cut in. “‘Cause they’re dope.”

“No,” Annie said curtly. Did Stormfront have to act friendly like that? Annie didn’t want a racist giving her food advice!

Stormfront leaned forward, intrigued by her response. A smug smile flitted around her lips, almost but not entirely kept restrained by her calm demeanor. What was she thinking? Did she know Annie knew something about her?

Annie needed to tread lightly. The less Stormfront suspected about Annie’s knowledge about her, the better. How did Annie typically act around her? Oh, yeah, abject adoration. Great.

“No,” she repeated in a softer tone to cover up her mistake. She forced herself to smile at the killer dressed as a hero. “I’m good. Thanks, Stormfront.”

Stormfront tilted her head, analytically studying Annie like she was some intriguing puzzle. That wasn’t necessarily a problem. As long as Stormfront’s interest was on the level of one colleague to another and not the recognition of a potential threat, Annie could stand to be in her gaze.

“Your mom was telling me about the hero pageants you used to do,” Stormfront said. “It sounds adorable, really.”

Was she serious, or was she mocking Annie? It was impossible to tell. It could even be both. Hell, it probably was. That was her style, right? She was warm at the same time she was prickly. She would cut you at the same time she’d make you smile! It made Annie’s skin crawl… at the same time it warmed her. God, why did Stormfront have this effect on her?

Something of Annie’s inner turmoil must have shown on her face. It made Stormfront smile.

“You’re lucky,” Stormfront continued. “My mom would never let me. Adele did not go in for that sort of thing.”

Annie looked at her mother. Stormfront was digging into Annie’s life through her mother. Maybe it wasn’t a conspiracy, but Stormfront sure took advantage when the opportunity presented itself.

“I like this one,” her mother said approvingly of Stormfront.

Stormfront smilingly winked at her… at Annie… She was sinking her claws into her, and the worst part was that Annie knew she had invited Stormfront’s interest.

“Mom, this isn’t a great time,” Annie said, trying to figure out a way to keep her from talking to Stormfront without being obvious.

“I- I know you’re busy,” her mother said. “You don’t have to entertain me.”

“ _ So _ busy,” Stormfront cut in. “She’s gotten up to a  _ lot _ of interesting things lately, right Starlight?”

“Right.” Annie forced a smile. 

“She’s been shooting scenes with the Seven, helping old ladies cross the street, saving people from muggers, kittens from trees, probably Christmas, too.” Stormfront counted Annie’s supposed heroic acts on her fingers. “And still has time to talk to the press, right, Starlight?”

“Right,” Annie repeated. Wait, what was that last one? Was that a reference to her leaking Compound V to MSNBC? Did Stormfront fucking know about that?

Stormfront just smiled with a veneer of sweetness. Annie looked at her eyes: cold, watching her with predatory calculation.

“I mean, more or less,” Annie amended. She forced a laugh.

Stormfront laughed with her. It had a delightful, musical sound. To Annie’s mother, it must have looked like nothing more than two work friends goofing around. Girls Get It Done in action. To Annie, it was nerve-wracking.

Stormfront had something on Annie that she could use against her. Instead of confronting her about it, Stormfront just let it float out there in a conversation where they pretended to be friendly. Annie would just stew about it now, and Stormfront just… just let it happen! That was cruel! What did Annie do to get on her bad side?

For a moment, Annie forgot about Liberty. She forgot that she hated Stormfront. She just saw her crush being mean to her and felt heart-broken. 

“I’m glad to see she’s getting on so well,” her mother said, infuriatingly, talking to Stormfront instead of her.

“Mmm,” Stormfront grunted in affirmation. She smiled up at Annie. “Starlight and I… How would you describe our friendship?”

“Well, I don’t know, Stormfront,” Annie said in clipped tones, barely managing to force a smile in return. “How would  _ you _ describe it?”

“Starlight’s one of my biggest fans,” Stormfront claimed. “Like, Stormchaser #1. How could I not be one of hers?”

“Right. A Stormchaser.” Annie was still smiling, wasn’t she? “That’s me.”

Annie’s mother finally turned to her. “I just wanted to see you.”

Annie opened her mouth to respond.

“Donna,” Stormfront interrupted, overtly using Annie’s mother’s personal name as she drew back her attention, “Can I tell her?”

It was a power play. Oh, it was one hell of a power play! Stormfront went and made best friends with Annie’s mother! It was an intrusion into her life, one asserting Stormfront’s authority on the level of a parent. Ooh, the moment Annie had a moment alone with Stormfront, she would give her such a piece of her mind!

Annie looked back and forth between them. “Tell me what?”

Her mother nodded at Stormfront, and Annie turned to her, to hear the news about her mother from Stormfront’s pretty mouth. Evil mouth. It was evil. Stormfront was evil.

“Look, your mom is so sorry about the Compound V, and she understands that keeping that a secret really hurt your relationship,” Stormfront said in earnest tones. It was bizarre, unnerving, hearing such a personal, private thing from her of all people. “She used you as a trophy, and she’s feeling really guilty right now about the whole thing!”

Stormfront was spying on Annie at the same time she was digging into Liberty. Did Stormfront know about that, too?!

Annie opened her mouth to respond. To Stormfront. Was she really going to have this discussion with  _ Stormfront _ ? She awkwardly closed her mouth.

Stormfront looked back calmly, waiting for her to act.

Annie grabbed her mother and pulled her away from the table. “Why are you talking to a stranger about our relationship?”

“She’s not a stranger. She’s your teammate!” her mother protested. “Aren’t you her biggest fan?”

Yeah, Annie’s racist murderer teammate. What a fan she was. The most she  _ did _ know about Stormfront was that Annie didn’t know nearly enough about her to have a clue who she really was.

She glanced at Stormfront, who watched them with eyes wide in a look of innocence. Except, no, it was more of a projected  _ idea _ of innocence, brimming with humor. It was exactly on-brand for her, to be fun and playful while hiding a dangerous analytical side of her personality. Annie couldn’t drop her guard around her for a second.

“Annie, the whole world knows about Compound V,” her mother said. “Lots of parents did what I did. I’m hoping that you’ll forgive me. Please forgive me, Annie.”

“Look, everyone is upset about Compound V.” Stormfront joined them, adamant on staying in their conversation. She stepped in between Annie and her mother, looked Annie in the eyes, and spoke in serious tones, “Someone was angry enough to leak it to the press! Can you imagine that kind of anger, Starlight?”

“Considering how much you seem to have benefited from it, maybe you should be grateful?” Annie grumbled, losing control of her composure.

Stormfront narrowed her eyes. “Grateful about what, exactly?”

“You’re a victim,” Annie said. “Vought did something horrible to you, and now you’re biting off their dick.” 

“Annie!” her mother sounded scandalized at her obscenity. Well, maybe if she was as offended by Vought, they wouldn’t be here.  


Stormfront raised her eyebrows at her own words parroted back to her. A flicker of a smile danced on her face.

“You’re a survivor,” Annie continued. “People like that better than a goddess. Now, you have the ammo to take down Vought themselves. Maybe you’ll be running things soon?”

“Maybe I will,” Stormfront said quietly. She tapped the V7 logo on her suit, sitting at the edge of her bosom. Annie glanced down at it, trying not to get distracted. “Maybe this will be an S soon? Who knows?”

Yeesh. The rank ambition she displayed chilled Annie’s blood.

“So.” Annie stared back into Stormfront’s hard, cold, and beautiful brown eyes. “This person… This rogue employee… Whoever they are? I’d say you owe them one.”

Slowly, Stormfront grinned. She winked. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe this person… whoever they are… won’t have to worry about me tracking them down.”

Annie nodded. She started to feel her body calm down, now that the immediate threat was resolved. Was this confidence she felt? “And I’m sure this person… whoever they are…”

Stormfront nodded, accepting the conceit.

“...I’m sure they’re very happy to see you succeed,” Annie finished. “If you think about it, you and them share similar goals. Opposing Vought, you know.”

“Hmm. Maybe they deserve the title of Stormchaser #1?” Stormfront abruptly turned around, leaving Annie staring at nothing but Stormfront’s dark hair and cape. “What do you think, Donna?”

Holy shit. Annie shivered. That allusion was far too close for comfort, not to mention the three different ways Stormfront took the opportunity to assert her authority. The message was clear. Stormfront basically just said, “Don’t fuck with me, Starlight. I can fuck you up, too.”

“Sounds about right,” Annie said to the back of Stormfront’s head. Message received and understood.

“Well, I- I don’t know,” her mother laughed, completely missing the whole point. “I’ll let you two girls work it out.”

Stormfront turned back, letting Annie see her smile. “Aw, Starlight’s cool with it, aren’t you?”

Annie nodded. Even if Stormfront was talking about her, she would be glad to not be associated with the dubious honor of ‘Stormchaser #1.’

“Anyway, I gotta get back to set,” Stormfront said. Apparently, the matter was resolved in her eyes.

“Oh, have a good day, Stormfront!” Her mother was too starstruck to read the room.

“You, too, Donna.” Stormfront smiled at her and then at Annie. Walking backward out of the tent, she tapped her Vought logo again. “Hey, Starlight, if I ever find out the name of whoever leaked it, their initial might just end up here next to mine. Picture it!”

What, SS instead of V7? It didn’t sound that impressive, but she supposed she should be grateful for Stormfront’s peace offering. If Stormfront didn’t know Annie was working against her, it would be that much easier to take her down.


	3. Committing

So, it turned out that Queen Maeve was gay? Or, no, people said she was bi. It was only Vought that pushed the idea of Maeve being gay because that was an easier image to sell.

Annie was aware of the concept of bisexuality, but she hadn’t given it much thought. Vought’s market analysis might have been onto something because the concept of people being either gay or straight made more intuitive sense to her. However, she understood how Vought could make egregious impositions on the lives of their assets, so her immediate inclination was to sympathize with Maeve.

Bisexuality… When Annie tried to wrap her head around it, liking both boys and girls, something resonated with her. She liked Hughie. She might even be in love with him. At the same time, she couldn’t deny that she had an attraction to Stormfront. 

True, her romantic yearning had been quashed when she learned Stormfront was Liberty, but there was still a physical attraction. Stormfront was… hot. Of course, she was. So, Annie was also bi.

Was Stormfront? She certainly seemed aware of Annie’s attraction and was actively responding to it with little teases, hinting she might also be attracted… Aw, hell with it, Annie could just consider her bi. It didn’t matter a hill of beans. She was evil.

Hughie. That was who she should focus on. He was a great guy. He had integrity, was kind-hearted, and… wasn’t Stormfront. Yeah, that was a plus in itself.

She wanted to commit to being with him, let him know that she was his and not… anyone else’s. Telling him that Stormfront was onto her would also be useful. So, she texted him about meeting up and then put on her civilian clothes to go for a walk.

They met covertly at a bus stop a few miles away from the film set, M.M. waiting in his car within eyesight. Annie gave the area a cursory inspection to make sure it was safe and then casually sat down on a bench beside Hughie, who was hiding his face behind a newspaper. Without turning his head, he watched her with his eyes.

“Hey,” she said softly. She kept her own uncovered face and eyes looking forward, but she watched him from the corner of her eye. It was great to see him again. She tried not to smile.

“Hey,” he echoed. “What’s up?”

Now that she had him here, a captive audience, she hesitated. The seconds ticked by, and she still didn’t answer.

“Annie?” he prompted. “Annie, why did you want to meet me?”

She took a deep breath in. Released it. Blinked. Blurted, “I love you. I want to be with you forever. I don’t want to be with anyone else.”

He emitted a small gasp.

She took a chance and looked over to see him agog with emotion, like an adorable puppy. Wanting to hug and kiss him but committed to security, she maintained her composure and turned back forward.

“I love you, too,” he gushed, whimpering a little with delight. “Wait, are you saying…? Do you want to get married?”

“What?” She hadn’t thought about marriage, though maybe she should have? That was the implication to her words, wasn’t it? “I, well, maybe eventually.”

“I can propose,” he said, eyes flitting back and forth as he considered it. “Oh, unless you want to propose?”

“No, why don’t you do it?” She smiled as she pictured it, a quintessential romantic gesture straight out of a fairytale. In her mind’s eye, he was even dressed like Prince Charming.

“Okay.” He nodded, grinning ecstatically. “Awesome. I mean, thank you. I mean, wow.”

“Wow,” she agreed. This was a perfect resolution to her anxiety, committing to the good and forgoing the bad. She felt like she could tell him anything. “Also, I might be bi.”

He paused as he processed this and turned to look at her, brow knit in confusion. “What?”

“Uh, I might be bi?” She bit her lip. Why did she have to bring that up? “It’s just something I recently realized about myself. I… wanted to tell someone. It’s not that important.”

He turned his head back forward, thought about it, and then looked at her again. “You like girls, too?”

“Yeah, you got it.” Embarrassed, she shifted position.

Facing forward again, he blinked rapidly. “Uh, cool. Yeah, that’s… that’s cool. You like girls. I like girls. Look how much we have in common!”

She smiled. Yeah, that could have gone a lot worse. This was awkward but now that he knew, she didn’t have to talk about it again.

“So, wait, you just found out?” he asked curiously. “Were you recently attracted to a girl or something?”

“Uh. Yes.” She fidgeted. In her mind’s eye, Stormfront smirked. She would, if she knew about this little conversation. Why was Stormfront in her head?

“So, like… uh, who?” he asked the inevitable question.

“Just someone from work,” she said dismissively. “It’s not important.”

He thought about that. “Well, yeah, but, like, you mean one of the Seven?”

“Yeah,” she said before thinking better of it. “I mean, just someone I work with. It’s not a big deal.”

“You know, Queen Maeve just came out as a lesbian,” he pointed out. “She has a girlfriend.”

“Yes,” she seized on that thread. “Yes, she did come out! That’s who it is. It’s Maeve.”

“Huh.” He nodded to himself. “I guess she is an inspiration after all. Brave Maeve.”

“Brave Maeve,” she repeated, nodding assertively. Inwardly, she apologized to Maeve for taking advantage of her branding like that.

She snuck another direct glance and saw him looking so sincere, trying to accept her for who she was, when the truth was a lot messier than the respectable bi girl being inspired by the brave lesbian. A torrent of guilt blossomed inside her for misleading this sweet boy. He deserved to know the truth, didn’t he?

“Actually…” She sighed. “Actually, no, Maeve is bi, not a lesbian. She didn’t come out; Homelander outed her. And I’m attracted to goddamn Stormfront.”

He choked. “Stormfront? Racist Stormfront?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t know she was then. She just… she has this way she engages with the world. She’s confident and bold and funny and… She’s completely awful. I want nothing more to do with her. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel anything when I’m near her.”

Taking this in, he shook his head. “That’s fucked up.”

“Great.” She looked down at her hands. “I’m fucked up.”

“No, I didn’t say you were fucked up, just…” He waved around. “The situation is what’s fucked up. I get it. I mean, no, I don’t get it, but… I get you didn’t choose to be attracted to a murderous seventy-something racist. I… Hey, in the fifth grade, there was this girl who was mean to everyone, but… well, I guess I have a thing for blondes?”

She snorted and chuckled under her breath. “Yes, that’s exactly the same thing.”

He sighed. “My point is, you don’t control these things. It’s not your fault.”

“Yeah, thanks.” She appreciated the gesture. It made her feel better, a little, but it couldn’t erase the guilt she felt.

“So, like, this is why you came out here?” He frowned. “You… wanted to make up for liking a psychopath?”

“I don’t know what she is,” she said, running through her and Stormfront’s interactions in her mind. Was Stormfront really a psychopath? Did she act like one? There were times she seemed to care about Annie, but was that just for show? It had to have been… 

He snorted. “That’s what you have an issue with? I guess it’s true. Do you really love me, or do you just not want to love Stormfr--?”

“I don’t love Stormfront!” Forgetting herself, she raised her voice. “God, I can’t believe you’d say such a thing!”

It was disgusting. She felt like spitting, like it was a bad taste in her mouth. Stormfront was… disturbing. Annie remembered Stormfront winking at her and shuddered.

“I didn’t say you’re in love with her,” he raised his voice to match hers. “I just mean, your intentions don’t seem particularly romantic, just… like you’re insecure.”

“I’m not insecure!” Well, that was a lie, but she was annoyed he was coming at her like that. “God, I love you! Obviously!”

“Hey, lovebirds!”

They turned to see M.M. standing there a few feet away, clad in a Black Panther Party T-shirt. “You wanna try to keep a low-profile? Because you shouting in public about a member of the Seven doesn’t fucking accomplish that!”

“Sorry,” she mumbled, apologetic.

“We were just… Fine, you’re right,” Hughie said. “Sorry, man.”

“Just keep it down,” M.M. hissed at him. He glanced at Annie, his eyes hard. “Do you like her?”

Memories of Valarie Hunter bubbled up. Racial violence. Liberty. M.M. and Miss Hunter clearly related on a racial level, understanding the depths of white supremacy and its evils. Annie knew he was judging her now, viewing her as an accomplice to it.

“No, of course not,” she said, trying to make herself believe it. “It’s just… animal instinct.”

“She’s bi,” Hughie added helpfully. “And I’m totally supportive of that.”

“Yeah. Whatever.” M.M. rolled his eyes. He gave Annie another hard look. “And what does she think about that?”

“Stormfront? She…” Annie relived the interaction she had with her earlier, and her stomach turned. Memories of Stormfront’s intensity pressed in on her. She felt like throwing up. “I think she knows and might be… teasing me about it?”

M.M. looked upward as he considered this. He looked back at them. “We might be able to use it.”

“Use… Stormfront teasing me?” She tried to understand what he was saying.

M.M. shook his head. “No, but her being okay with you taking an interest in her might let you get close enough to learn something.”

“You want me to spy on her?” she asked doubtfully. “Guys, she knows I took the V. I convinced her it’s in her best interest, but she’s intelligent and… I don’t think we should underestimate her.”

M.M. grumbled a sigh, the air slipping from his mouth in a growl as he rubbed his eyes. “Fine. We might still be able to do something with it. I’ll talk to Butcher. For now, just… whatever you’re currently doing with her, keep doing it.”

“And that’s not much, right?” Hughie looked at her. “You’re not… like… She’s not…?”

“I’m not seeing or doing anything with her,” she assured him. Then she thought about it. Stormfront’s dark eyes flashed through her brain. “We might be flirting. A little.”

“Keep flirting a little,” M.M. told her. “Try not to do anything more or less than she expects.”

“You want her to flirt?” Hughie demanded. “With Stormfront? The racist?”

“Hey, I don’t like it any more than you,” M.M. said. “That said, Starlight has an opening. We’d be nuts not to take it.”

She winced. If only she could just end the flirtation in one swift gesture of love to her sweet guy! But since M.M. was taking it out of her hands… There was a part of her that was relieved. She hated that there was, but it didn't change the fact that Stormfront turned her on and being forced to flirt with her didn't suck as much as she would hope. 

Still, she didn't want him thinking of her as a racist. "It's not that I don't care she's racist…"

He cut her off with a chopping motion. "Trust me, there's no place that sentence could end that's better than where it started. You just keep an eye on her, maybe it can help us stop her before she does anything else."

Abashed but unable to improve her image to him, she quietly nodded.

Hughie looked worried. "Just be careful, alright? She's dangerous."

"I get it." She nodded. A rogue superhero could be capable of all sorts of things Annie didn’t want to think about. Miss Hunter’s gruesome tale flashed through her brain. “I have one advantage, though. I’m a super--”

“You got white privilege,” M.M. spoke over her. “That’s why she’s friendly with you. We can use it. Don’t get cocky.”

He was right. She had only the luck of her birth to thank for Stormfront being receptive to her interest. If she had been born another race, well, Stormfront might want to kill her. It was a humbling thought. “I’ll try not to.”

Hughie looked back and forth between them. “Hey, now, we’re all friends here. Well, we are, aren’t we?”

M.M. raised his eyebrows and didn’t answer.

“I should get back to set. They’ll be looking for me.” She rose from the bench and smiled at M.M. in hopes of getting past this hurdle in their friendship.

“Yeah, you should.” He didn’t smile back.

Maybe he just needed a bit to think things over. She rested her hand on Hughie’s shoulder and squeezed. “I’ll see you soon.”

“I love you.” He looked up at her with a goofy smile on his face.

“I love you, too.” She made the words sound like a promise, to honor their relationship. To hell with Stormfront. She smiled and then headed out.

As she jogged away, she overheard M.M. tell Hughie, “I don’t care if she does love you. All Supes are bastards. Even her.”


	4. A Private Nazi Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do observe the alteration in declared warnings. The sadistic Nazi acts true to form in this chapter. Let it still be said that though there are aspects about Stormfront I find compelling, fuck Nazis. Just not like that.

Stormfront. Annie could not stop thinking about Stormfront. If she tried to think about Hughie, she thought about him being worried about her needing to flirt with Stormfront. If she thought about work, she thought about working with Stormfront. Stormfront was living in her head rent-free.

Her actual thoughts on the subject were negative. Mostly. She thought of Stormfront’s deception, her racism, and her cruelty. And her hotness. Physically, Stormfront was very attractive, and as Annie thought about her, it was hard not to picture her. Thoughts of her disturbed Annie, nauseated her, and… turned her on.

Even when Annie focused on nothing more than doing her job, it would inevitably take her near Stormfront. At the tower, she sat at a table with Stormfront. On set, she shot scenes with Stormfront.

Stormfront… was friendly. She’d accepted their interests were aligned and stopped antagonizing Annie. However, now that Annie knew she could, Annie was wary.

Of course, now, she had a mission. She had to be friendly with Stormfront. It was restrictive, worrisome, and… alleviated some of her guilt at being attracted to a racist. After all, she was now on her way to taking her down.

So, when Stormfront caught her staring at her across the room and winked, Annie looked away in embarrassment but wasn’t especially worried. She even looked back and smiled. And when the two of them shot a scene together in which they pretended to fight an orange alien with a magic boot as played by a stuntman encased in bright green foam to be replaced in post-production, Annie traded quips with her as they snarked at how absurd the whole thing was. Their ‘relationship’, such as it was, was back on track.

M.M. had a point when he advised Annie not to be more flirtatious than Stormfront would expect, but it was also apparent that their level of flirtation would not be sufficient for learning anything of value from her. If Annie was going to take advantage of their connection, something would have to change. Just as she gathered her nerves to take things a step further, Stormfront made a move first.

At the end of a hard work day full of interviews, Annie returned to the tower to retire. She headed to her room, when Stormfront spoke from behind her.

“Starlight.”

Annie turned to see Stormfront standing in front of her own room. Looking at Annie, she sharply inclined her head toward the door. The meaning was clear: an invitation to join her inside.

Annie would be a fool not to take advantage. She followed Stormfront into her room. She hadn’t been there before. Stormfront’s decor was minimalistic with an emphasis on grey but had a few Viking-inspired art pieces: a painting of a Viking ship in a storm, underneath which was some kind of long axe wrapped in a bundle of straight sticks, across from a painting of female Viking warriors on flying horses in a storm that looked like it was made from their bodies. As Annie studied it, she realized the women were carrying the bodies of male Vikings. How creepy.

“Like my tastes?” Stormfront cocked her head as she watched Annie examine her artworks.

“Oh, oh, yeah,” she lied. “It’s very…”

Cold. Brutal. Grisly.

“...Edgy.”

Stormfront smirked but didn’t say anything more on the subject. She gestured to a chair facing a long dining table. “Won’t you take a seat?”

“Okay.” Annie decided to follow Stormfront’s lead and sat in the indicated chair. “Are we eating?”

“No.” Stormfront walked away from her to a kitchenette, ducked behind a bar, and retrieved a bottle of Jagermeister and two shot glasses, which she set on the table in front of Annie before pulling a chair over and sitting down herself. “We haven’t really hung out yet, just us girls? That’s a shame. We should have a chance to get to know each other. I’d really like a chance to get to know you.”

Oh. Stormfront was curious about Annie? That probably wasn’t a good sign. Stormfront was probably still suspicious. However, Annie saw an opportunity to learn about her enemy right back.

She made herself smile, playing the flattered ingenue with a crush--big stretch there--and took the initiative by opening the liquor bottle and pouring their drinks. “Jagermeister, huh? I haven’t had that since I was a teenager.”

“It’s an old favorite.” Stormfront accepted the proffered glass and looked fondly at the dark brown liquid within. “Like mother’s milk.”

Annie’s muscles clenched, and it took everything she had not to spill as she poured her own glass. Visions of M.M. judging her for liking a racist flashed through her head. She tried to ignore it, to stay focused on her task.

“You look nervous,” Stormfront observed. “Do I intimidate you?”

Yes.

“No, of course not.” Annie raised her glass. “Cheers.”

“To long life.” Stormfront clinked her glass against Annie’s and downed the shot.

“Long life,” she echoed. What exactly did that mean so someone like Stormfront? How old even was she? How long did she expect to live?

Annie drank. Liquor always burned the first swallow. It wouldn’t be until she had a bit more that she would start to appreciate the complexities of the flavor.

“So, Annie January, underage drinker. That doesn’t sound like the Starlight I know.” Stormfront took the bottle and filled their glasses. “What’s the story there?”

“Well, not much.” Annie hesitated. On the one hand, she didn’t want Stormfront knowing details of her life. On the other, she needed to get Stormfront to feel comfortable opening up herself. “Went to a party. Mom thought it was a light, wholesome get-together with a bit of Bible study. It wasn’t. They made Jagerbombs. Got kinda wired. Honestly, it’s all kind of a blur. It’s not like I became a hardcore boozehound or anything.”

“At least the bottle has a cross on it.” Stormfront tapped the label. “Very Christian.”

“Yeah, it’s practically Bible study.” Annie smiled. “So, what about you? When did you first try it?”

Maybe that would shed some insight into how old she was?

“Oh, I was like you, a teenager.” Stormfront paused, thinking about it. Maybe Annie was reading too much into it, but she could swear Stormfront looked like an elderly woman recalling a long-forgotten memory. “Bars where I lived didn’t care too much about age so much as money.”

“Oh, yeah, where was that?” Annie interrupted Stormfront’s train of thought to ask her follow-up question and immediately regretted it. She just needed to get Stormfront to talk and hopefully reveal more than intended, not reduce her answers to careful responses.

Stormfront narrowed her eyes. “Didn’t you read the memo? I came here from Portland, dummy.”

And that was a clear shut-down of that inquiry. Although… maybe she was hinting that wasn’t the whole story?

Annie nodded, accepting that answer for now. “Cheers, Stormfront.”

“Cheers.”

They clinked glasses and drank.

Ah, yeah, she could taste more of it now. No wonder Stormfront liked it.

“So, what’s with the Viking thing?” Annie pointed at the paintings and the axe thing.

Stormfront smiled, half-mockingly, half-honestly pleased at Annie’s interest. “Haven’t you heard? I am the incarnation of Freya, Norse goddess of love and war!”

“Uh, haven’t you heard?” Annie ventured. “You’re… kinda not.”

It was a bold joke considering the way Stormfront came at her earlier for that, but Annie wanted to make it clear she wasn’t a pushover. If Stormfront felt comfortable poking fun at her, she should be able to poke fun back.

Stormfront quietly eyed her for a moment and then laughed. “To be honest, the Vaught boys came up with that because I already liked them. They’re so strong and… proven in battle. They weather the storm, and they don’t give in. They are the storm. They endure. They dominate. And we…”

Stormfront abruptly closed her mouth. She blinked. “I like them.”

Interesting hesitation. Was that a slip? Was she about to say something that her enemies could use against her?

“Is that, uh, why you’re Stormfront?” Annie asked. “You… like that Vikings are the, uh, storm?”

“No, no, that’s just my metaphor.” Stormfront waved her hand dismissively. “The storm is… power. And that’s what I have. Power.”

Giving a wicked grin, Stormfront held out her hand and let lightning crackle around it. It could easily be lethal for a human to touch. If Annie wasn’t a superhero, the display might scare her. As it was, she was merely intimidated.

Annie poured another drink. Her dexterity was off this time and some liquor missed the glasses and splattered on the table. “Uh, sorry.”

Stormfront quelled her lightning and leaned forward. “You sure you’re up for that, Ms. Jagerbominatrix?”

Annie laughed. “Jagerbomin-- That’s funny.”

“Uh-huh. Why don’t you let me?” Stormfront took the bottle from her and finished pouring the drinks.

Annie watched her, grateful for the help, wishing she didn’t appreciate it that much. Stormfront was intimidating… but she wasn’t scary. After all, they were the same kind of person… white superheroes. To a degree, they were on the same side. Stormfront was her enemy, but she felt comfortable relaxing around her in a way that M.M. or even Hughie couldn’t.

Oh, gosh, M.M wouldn’t like that Annie thought that, would he? The thought of him judging her weighed on her but that wasn’t helpful to her mission, so she tried to just let it go. She needed to focus on getting Stormfront to view her as unthreatening so she might give something away.

Taking her glass, she raised it. “To… to…”

Did she want to say long life? Did she want to say her own thing? She had difficulty coming up with something else.

“To victory,” Stormfront supplied.

That sounded good. “To victory.”

She tried to clink glasses, but her coordination was off and kept missing Stormfront’s glass. Stormfront grabbed Annie’s hand and held it still so Stormfront could clink her glass off of Annie’s. She was embarrassed but a part of her heart leapt at Stormfront’s grip. That was almost like holding hands, right?

They drank. Annie could now appreciate the rich flavor of the booze as its effects settled in her brain. “This, this is good.”

“Yeah, you like it?” Stormfront smiled.

“Yeah.” Annie nodded.

“That’s fine German brewing, right there,” Stormfront said. “It certainly sustained us during the war.”

Something about that statement didn’t make sense, but Annie couldn’t put her finger on it. “It’s good. Yeah. Good German.”

“Uh-huh.” Stormfront’s smile was different now, showing a sense of smug superiority. “So, tell me, Starlight, why did you leak the Compound V?”

“Oh, I was hoping you wouldn’t ask me that,” she said. This interrogation thing wasn’t going so hot. “I’m not, um, sure I should, you know, tell you.”

“You can tell me anything, Starlight,” Stormfront assured her. “You’re my special friend. We have a bond. You like me, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” she blushed as she admitted this secret to her crush. “I like you.”

“Well, I am really curious about this whole Compound V situation.” Stormfront reached out and lightly touched Annie’s face, guiding her to look Stormfront directly in her wide, brown eyes that stared back at her with longing. “If you tell me, I’ll be very happy. You want to make me happy, don’t you?”

“I, uh, um… yeah.” Annie could get lost in those eyes. “You’re beautiful.”

“Thank you, Starlight. You’re not so bad, yourself.” Stormfront smirked but kept staring into her eyes. “But let’s not get distracted. Why did you leak the Compound V?”

“I, uh…” Annie felt elated that Stormfront thought she was pretty, and Stormfront was literally in her face, touching her, close enough that Annie could smell her icy deodorant. Her lips were close enough that if Annie wanted, if she had the courage, she could just lean over and kiss. She was overwhelmed. So, when Stormfront asked her again about the Compound V, she opened her mouth. “I was, uh, doing, yeah, what you said.”

“What I said?” Stormfront pressed.

“I was, you know, biting off their dicks.” Annie giggled. It was a funny thing to say.

“Uh-huh. You wanted to fuck over Vought?” Stormfront lightly caressed Annie’s face as she spoke. It felt heavenly.

Annie nodded. “Can I kiss you?”

“Not until you finish telling me about the Compound V,” Stormfront said. “If you tell me for real, I’ll kiss you. Deal?”

That was the best deal. Annie nodded, already picturing it. She bet Stormfront’s lips were soft.

“Why did you want to fuck over Vought that badly?” Stormfront demanded. “You had to have known their assets--us--would also be hurt.”

“You… know what they’re like.” Annie waved indistinctly. “And, like, I didn’t care about, you know, other superheroes. The Deep… bite off his dick. The others… who the fuck cares?”

“And Homelander? You wanted to fuck him over too?” Stormfront’s mouth twisted in a snarl. Somehow, it was also sexy.

“Yes.” Annie hadn’t thought about it until Stormfront laid it out, but it was true. “Fuck Homelander.”

Stormfront paused. She burst out laughing, right in Annie’s face, making her flinch. It wasn’t nice laughter either. It had a certain cruel sound. “Oh, Starlight, you angry little idiot! You haven’t the slightest idea of the game being played, do you? The war between good and evil? The deserving few against the demanding masses?”

Annie winced at the insult. It hurt coming from her crush. She didn’t know if she still wanted the kiss. Watching Stormfront go off on a rant, she pulled away. “I’m not your, you know, Stormchaser! I don’t, like, deserve this!”

Huh. Annie was struggling to find the right words. Stormfront wasn’t.

Annie looked at the Jagermeister. “Why, uh, don’t you, like, uh, you know, get drunk?”

“Oh, I’m a little buzzed,” Stormfront assured her. “I just have a superior constitution. Plus, I coated your shot glass with rohypnol back there where you couldn’t see me.”

“What?!” Annie stood up and immediately stumbled. She grabbed onto the back of the chair to steady herself.

“That was a joke. I’m joking, Starlight,” Stormfront said calmly. “You’re just a lightweight, and I’m a goddamn goddess reincarnate.”

“It’s not funny,” Annie said, increasingly confused at the seemingly random things she said. “You, uh, know about the, uh, Deep.”

“Poor Starlight.” Stormfront pouted mockingly. It was rude. Very rude.

“I don’t think I, uh, want to be here,” Annie said. She stumbled toward the door.

“Don’t you want your kiss?” Stormfront called after her.

Annie paused. She glanced back.

“Thatta girl.” Stormfront quirked her finger at her. “Come back.”

Annie reluctantly returned and slid back into her seat. She knew she was at a disadvantage here. Stormfront could think a lot clearer than her.

Grabbing her shot glass, she thrust it at Stormfront. “Drink from this.”

Stormfront took it. “You do realize I was joking about roofying you, right? This is a normal glass.”

“I don’t know.” Annie was confused but knew she was confused and wanted to level the playing field. “Just drink it anyway.”

“Well, all right, if you insist.” Stormfront took the bottle and filled both glasses, moving her original glass in front of Annie. Stormfront raised the glass that may or not have been roofied. “To victory?”

“Whatever,” Annie snapped, grabbing her glass.

They drank. It was good, but Annie was starting to feel… really out of it.

Stormfront smacked her lips. “You know, it’s always possible that I roofied the Jagermeister itself. You have no idea what my powers actually are. I could be invulnerable to rohypnol. That ever cross your mind?”

“I, uh, I…” Annie trembled involuntarily. What was that about Stormfront not scaring her?

“Aw, you look nervous.” Stormfront smiled brightly. “You should really try to understand sarcasm a little better.”

Sarcasm… Was that sarcasm? Was it not? Stormfront’s rhetorical abilities were top-notch as ever. Annie couldn’t figure out what Stormfront’s game was, and it scared her.

“You, uh, aren’t, you know, affected at all,” Annie accused. “You’re, like, running, you know, circles around me.”

“I always am, sparkles.” Stormfront spoke in soft tones, mockingly pretending to comfort her. “I’m a superior being, even to you, an Ubermensch. Comes from good breeding. Plus, obviously, Compound V.”

“You, like, keep mentioning, you know, German things,” Annie observed. “Are, you, like, um, German?”

“Hey, you’re not quite as stupid as I thought!” Stormfront looked delighted. “Starlight, baby, you’re not going to remember a fucking thing I tell you by tomorrow, so let me lay it out for you plainly: I’m a goddamn fucking Nazi. I’m gonna roll in your neighborhood and get things all Third Reich up in hee-yuh! I’m gonna fucking exterminate the non-Aryan races, and then I’ll kill a lot more just for funzies. Can I get a ‘Heil Stormfront’?”

Annie stared at her, her eyes wide in horror. And then she realized Stormfront was just fucking with her and laughed. “You’re not a Nazi. I, like, do understand sarcasm, Stormfront.”

“Good for you.” Stormfront nodded, a smug smirk glued to her face. “You caught me.”

“I know you are racist, though,” Annie admitted. Maybe there was something more to this than just an edgy joke? Then she laughed. “Aryan’s a funny word. Arrryannn.”

“Yeah, it kind of is.” Stormfront tilted her head, intrigued. “How do you know I’m racist?”

That was an area Annie couldn’t get into. It could put Hughie in danger. “Hey, I’ve, like, told you a lot of things! Where’s my kiss?”

Stormfront sighed. “Ah, hell, you won’t remember in the morning, anyway.”

Closing the distance between them, Stormfront kissed Annie full on the mouth. Just like that, she was making out with Stormfront. It was heavenly.

Out of the corner of her eye, Annie saw one of the paintings’ borders, framed in Norse symbols. She had dismissed it previously, but now she noticed something, a repeating pattern. Were those… swastikas? Huh. Unfortunately, that thought vanished into the background of her mind as she melted into Stormfront’s warm embrace.

The next morning, Annie woke in her own bed, dressed in her night clothes. Her head throbbed and her mouth was dry. All she could remember was Stormfront inviting Annie to her room for a drink. She drank a couple shots of Jagermeister and tried to interrogate Stormfront as she interrogated her back. Things got kind of hazy after that…


	5. A Match Made in Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Heterosexuality in this chapter. Also, Nazism. Fuck Nazis, just not like Homelander.

Klara was living her best life. Getting absolutely railed by Homelander.

After decades of planning, preparation, and slow, careful adjustment of political powers, things were finally coming together. Just as she predicted, all those years of hard work, coming to fruition. Things were moving at an accelerated rate. Victory was soon to be at hand! Homelander was within her grasp! The future belonged to her! She was… winning!

Climaxing, she let out a shriek of pleasure and let her unfocused gaze fall over him, still clad in his uniform but for pulled down trousers. He was the pinnacle of Aryan physicality, a Greek god made flesh, and she relaxed in the wake of his mighty turbulence, agog in her adoration for this master. For his part, he let her climax before allowing himself to cross over the edge. What a gentleman.

They slammed down on her dining table. It spoke to the manufacturer’s strong construction that it only whined from the strain and wasn’t smashed to pieces. The couch wasn’t quite as sturdy, nor was the coffee table. It was a good thing she interrogated Starlight when she did, not after seducing Homelander.

That was a strange thought to flick through her brain. Starlight… She was a trifling amusement, not the prototype of a master race of  _ Ubermenschen _ . Still, Klara had toyed with her at this very table, so Klara quite naturally thought of her.

She ran her hands over Homelander’s chest, feeling his hard muscles beneath his yielding blue uniform. “My man. My white god.”

He smiled, soaking up her adoration, and winked. “Don’t you forget the good old red and blue.”

“Oh, how could I?” She gathered folds of his American flag cape in her hands and stroked along its length. “My American leader.  _ Mein Fuhrer _ .”

Standing, he took her shoulders in his firm red-gloved grip and positioned her in an erect stance in front of him with her arms at her sides. “You’re a Nazi, so say it. You know you want to.”

She studied his face as she assessed that command until she understood. Raising her right arm outward in a crisp Roman salute, she snapped quietly--she didn’t want anyone to overhear this particular declaration of love--but assertively, “ _ Heil _ Homelander!”

The smirk to cross his face was worth the security risk. It told her that he knew his superior status and that he was accepting the role she had planned for him. He would rule  _ everyone _ . Including Starlight.

There a thought about Starlight was again. Why did Klara care? Starlight wasn’t her enemy. Or if she was, she was too inept at it to matter. Klara’s interrogation had made it pretty clear to her that Starlight was just an angry little lesbian acting out with no clue about the larger implications to her actions. She was mildly annoying but made a good point that she may have inadvertently helped Klara secure the hearts and minds of her Stormchasers. That and the fact that Starlight was fun to tease made Klara want to keep her around. She could definitely find uses for a good Aryan Supe, but it still wasn’t anything she should care about after making passionate love to Homelander.

“At ease, soldier,” he said, still deep in his American persona. Well, Klara would educate him soon enough. Maybe she’d teach him some German to start?

She relaxed her arm, smiled, and went to work finding and putting her clothes back on. It was a harder task than she expected. Of course, normal sexual encounters didn’t involve being undressed in the air. He had to help locate her panties on the top side of a ceiling lamp.

“What do you think of Starlight?” she found herself asking, just making conversation but also curious about his perspective.

“Starlight?” He cocked his head. “Lovely girl. A bit tightly-wound. Doesn’t always respect me as much as she should.”

“Nor me,” she mused. A little show of power might be in order. Nothing much, just to get Starlight to know where she fell in the Seven’s recomposed hierarchy. “You don’t think she’s a threat?”

He paused, thinking it over. “At one point, I thought so, but no. Too much of the bimbo factor for that. Hugh Campbell--that skinny nerd working with the Supervillain?--he took advantage of her to gain intelligence on us but, no, I don’t think she’s a threat herself.”

Klara nodded. That was consistent with her own findings. Starlight was too dumb and myopic to be a serious problem. That left only the ways she could be beneficial.

Feeling a sudden urge to turn Starlight into a Stormchaser for real, Klara was forced to contend with the fact that she might actually like her back. Not in the dopey lovesick way Starlight liked her, of course. Klara’s affection was more trivial. Still, affection did exist, and she could always use another Stormchaser.

She sighed and rubbed her temples. This was not a complication she would have preferred now that she was so close to achieving her goals, but she could change up her plans to allow for it. And, yeah, why not? She could handle a little side project.

Looking back at Homelander, she wondered how best to negotiate between her relationship with him and anything she would build with Starlight. Certainly, Klara wanted to avoid any Vought-sponsorship disaster approaching the Brave Maeve branding. Endorsing feminine hygiene products as Liberty was bad enough; her ego couldn’t take a ‘proud lesbian’ rebranding. Any leak of her sex life to the public needed to be on the heterosexual side.

“You look like you’re thinking hard about something.” He smiled winningly. “Is it me?”

“Um, no.” She swallowed, embarrassed. “Starlight. I mean, yes, you. You, in your gloriousness, my love, but also about Starlight.”

He furrowed his brow. “What about me and Starlight?” 

Klara paused, embarrassed about her preoccupation with the Seven peon but curious about his own thoughts on Starlight as a subject of sexual fascination. “She’s pretty, don’t you think? No, what I mean is… would you hit that?”

Homelander smiled at the thought, but his smile faltered as he looked at her warily. “Is this a trap?”

“Of course not,” she said, unsure if she believed it herself. “Anyone can see she’s smokin’. Especially since Vought got her out of those Christian pajamas.”

Homelander chuckled. “Yeah… I might have had a hand in that.”

“Yeah?” She raised her eyebrows.

He smiled. “I like to have a nice view when I survey my team. That’s why the conference room has that wall of windows, so I can admire the cityscape. I spoke to the architect when the tower was built. So, when I saw Starlight needed some coaxing out of her shell, I spoke to Madelyn about redesigning her suit. Now, she’s more comfortable, and I get a better view.”

“Very clever.” She appreciated his skill at manipulation, even if it had a much narrower scope than her own. “Just so we’re clear, you say anything to Vought about  _ my _ suit that isn’t about giving me pockets, we’re going to have words.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he accepted easily, flashing her that winning smile of all things American. He was all about baseball, apple pie, and respecting his girlfriend. He really was the spitting image of Tom Sawyer, grown into a strong man, and she loved him for it.

“But yeah, she’s really coming into her own,” she brought the conversation back to Starlight. “She’s giving us  _ all _ more eye candy.”

As she spoke the last part, she studied his face carefully, hoping he would take her meaning and accept it gracefully.

His brow furrowed. “And you… also enjoy it?”

“I do.” She looked him in the eyes. “You cool with that?”

He looked confused more than anything. Sucking in his lip thoughtfully and blowing it out, he waved in a vague dismissal. “Oh, I’m cool. I just, well, aren’t Nazis generally opposed to that sort of thing?”

“Generally, yeah…” She tilted her head. “Of course, exceptions can be made for the most valuable, most useful instruments in the struggle. As long as it stays out of the public eye, I think I’m allowed my indiscretions… wouldn’t you agree?”

A twinkle in his eye, he smiled. “You… uh… want to have ‘indiscretions’ with Starlight?”

Despite herself, she felt her cheeks heat. She could only stammer for a moment. “Well, I, uh… that is…”

“Sounds like I’m right.” He pointed at her face. “Aw, you’re blushing. Adorable. Big scary Nazi over here.”

“I  _ am _ scary,” she insisted, turning away in embarrassment. He was lucky; anyone beside him who saw her this vulnerable, she would surely kill. “Starlight just has a crush on me and, damn it, I’m starting to like stringing her along. More than I should.”

“Oh, she has a crush on you?” He raised his eyebrows and slowly grinned. “Are you planning to…? How would a Nazi put it…? Annex her territory? Concentrate on her camp? Fuck her?”

She coughed, uncomfortable with the attention. “If I were… it would be for my amusement only. You’re my soulmate.”

“Of course.” He nodded, a lascivious smile splitting his face from ear to ear. “Stormfront and her fuck toy, Starlight. That is… I am going to enjoy picturing that one.”

“You can make love to me whenever you want,” she pointed out. “You don’t need to ‘picture’ anything.”

“You’re right. I don’t need to.” He reached around her waist and roughly squeezed her ass, claiming the right to her body she willingly offered him. “I can do whatever I want. And what I want right now… is to picture Starlight fucking you.”

“You’re hurting me,” she observed, analyzing the pain she felt. It was good. She felt a surge of arousal both from his grip and from his interest in her relationship with Starlight. “Harder, please.”

With a slight twist of his wrist, he spun her around and slammed her face-first against the wall across the room. Before she could recover, his body smashed against her back at supersonic speeds, grinding her against the marble. Her whole front smarted, and she opened her mouth to exclaim and moaned instead.

“Better?” His hot breath tickled the back of her head, and his growing erection pressed into her hip.

“Yeah…” she mumbled, dazed. “Th- thanks…”

“So, tell me…” he murmured, running his fingers through her hair, “which one of you would be on top?”

She grimaced, then thought about it. Her teeth slid against the wall as she turned her frown upside down. “Me.” 

“Oh, really?” He pulled her cape out of the way and yanked down her pants and underwear. “You sure about that?”

“Please. I can overpower a mediocre electrokinetic Supe like her.” She grunted as he tugged her hair hard enough to force her head sideways. “She can barely throw sparks. I throw lightning.”

“Topping’s not always about raw power,” he noted as he dropped his own drawers. “It’s about attitude. It’s about who gets off in which position. And from where I stand--” he thrust into her, “--you don’t come off as particularly dominant.”

“Oh, come on!” The waves of pleasure overtook any further complaints she had, and her grumbles soon turned into moans.

He slammed into her, each thrust crushing her against the wall. She was literally trapped between a rock and a hard place, and her body was the weakest part of the equation. Though the wall splintered, and he may have been a little winded, her body took the brunt of the kinetic force. It was extraordinarily painful, not to mention degrading, and the mix of that with sexual pleasure was enough to turn her brain into a gooey mess she could swear was leaking out of her ears.

Finally, she came. Then, he came. He pulled out and let her fall to the floor.

Looking down at her, he shook his head and made a tsking sound. “You, on top?”

“This… doesn’t count…” She tried to catch her breath. “You’re Homelander. Like I  _ could _ top you.”

“Like  _ you _ could top me,” he restated her words with his own emphasis, redressing. “Maybe… just maybe… you’re not nearly as badass as you think? Maybe the great Stormfront, conqueror of nations, is actually… soft… and cute.”

“I’m not cute!” Stumbling to her feet, she pulled her pants back up and pointed her finger emphatically at him to make her point. “I am the epitome of Nazi ingenuity and executor of our divine birthright, the inheritor of the glorious legacy of white western… Could you stop grinning at me?”

He shook his head, his grin still plastered on his face. “Talk on, little Nazi. Doesn’t change the facts, and I’m looking forward to seeing Starlight top you.”

“You won’t,” she insisted. Nothing about her and Starlight’s interactions suggested Starlight was capable of something like that. Klara had her outwitted, outpowered, and outmatched.

He raised his eyebrows and tapped the side of his head at eyeline. “X-ray vision. Unless you two are planning to fuck in a bunker made of zinc, just assume I’ll be watching and enjoying.”

“It won’t  _ happen _ ,” she clarified. “If something does happen between us, it’ll be me teaching Starlight a lesson, me dominating her.”

Rolling his eyes, he leisurely strolled toward the exit. “Oookay… We’ll see…”

Left alone to grumble, she dialed the housekeeping services. There was a huge mess to clean up. The Vought maids could handle the room, and Klara would handle Starlight and earn Homelander’s respect. Soft and cute? Yeah, right.


	6. Teaser Trailer

“What is the magic boot about, anyway?” Annie asked  _ Dawn of the Seven _ director Adam Bourke as he fussed over the blocking between her and the bright green ‘alien’ stuntman. “I don’t get it. It kills people?”

“The Eternity Sabaton is a weapon infused with the Eternity Obs, artifacts of extraordinary power,” he lectured with all the pretension of a comic book nerd. “With a mere stamp of his foot, Thanatopsis can rewrite reality to his making, and he uses this power to kill one-quarter of all sapient life in the universe as a sign of devotion to the woman he loves.”

“I… don’t…” Annie shook her head, confused. She never tried to follow the more fantastical comic storylines.

“I’m totally not a girl who obsesses over shoes, but I admit it’d be cool to have it myself,” Stormfront opined as she moseyed over. Picking up the prop, she turned it over in her hands. “If I could rewrite reality, I’d give myself a little more…” she tapped the top of her head and raised her hand a few inches, “…height. That and another thing. Hey, Starlight.”

“Hey.” She smiled politely. It was important to maintain a friendly relationship with Stormfront, after all. The sight of her still thrilled Annie a little inside, but she also felt uneasy around her.

Stormfront got Annie drunk, and Annie didn’t remember what she said to her. Annie hoped she could stay cool under pressure, but she didn’t know for sure. A part of her had wanted to text Hughie to warn him, but she was afraid to jump the gun and worry the rebels for nothing. If they started doubting her ability to spy for them, they’d tell her to stop. She wanted to have an active role in taking Stormfront down, so she decided to wait and see what happened. 

Aside from a mild hangover, Stormfront showed no sign of having been affected by the night’s events, and Annie slowly relaxed. Nothing critical seemed to have been compromised. However, as she had told M.M., Stormfront wasn’t someone to underestimate, and Annie still felt a little bit on edge around her.

Stormfront smirked, and Annie realized she was staring. She looked away, toward the prop as Adam took it away from Stormfront. The ability to rewrite reality would be nice. Annie wondered if it could make Stormfront not be evil? Not that Annie really cared about the fantasy. The world was what it was.

Adam shooed Stormfront out of the shot, and Annie acted out her solo fight scene for another few takes. She was curious if Stormfront was watching her but resisted the urge to check. Annie forced herself to concentrate on her job.

By the time she finished shoots, Stormfront had moved on. Annie was both relieved and a little disappointed. She was grateful not to be under the calculating gaze of a murderous racist, but Stormfront’s absence left her feeling strangely empty, too.

Annie shuddered, not liking the effect Stormfront had on her. Stormfront was the bad guy. Annie knew it intellectually. Yet, her emotions… her physical body… They had yet to catch up.

Well. That was what made her useful to Hughie. She was strategically positioned to do some real good. If only she could actually do something to prove to herself that she wasn’t disloyal to him or her morals in general. She needed to get something solid from Stormfront, fast.

The course of action was clear to Annie. She needed to ask out Stormfront. On a date.

Easier said than done. Somehow, though Annie could face down Superterrorists and beat up rapists, the prospect of asking out Stormfront on an actual date scared the hell out of her. What if Stormfront said no? What if she mocked Annie’s interest? What if she misread this whole thing and Stormfront didn’t really like girls?

Annie took a deep breath and tried to focus. It was a mission, not something she should get personally invested in. She liked  _ Hughie _ , damn it! This thing with Stormfront was just a side project, just a means of helping him. 

Concentrating on her bond with Hughie, Annie thought about how to ask out Stormfront as a series of discrete tasks she needed to achieve to be properly faithful to him. If Annie failed to get anything of value from it, that would make what she had with Stormfront kind of like… cheating. With a racist murderer, no less. Annie couldn’t allow that to happen, which meant she needed to ask out Stormfront and find out something juicy from their… date… Gosh, that  _ did _ sound like cheating, but Annie couldn’t afford to get discouraged.

The first order of business: Locate Stormfront. Annie politely asked a few people where she could find her and was directed to the dining tent. Annie arrived to see Stormfront happily chatting on an Instagram live-stream and slowly approached, trying to calm the butterflies that suddenly found residence in her stomach.

“...Yeah, this crepe thing?” Stormfront showed her plate to the camera. “So tasty! Like I was saying, there’s no ‘cultural appropriation’. It’s appreciation! World’s all better when we pick out what we like from whatever cultures we want. A century ago, we couldn’t do any of this. Life’s like a buffet, so treat your wacky self! Go nuts!”

Annie reached the edge of Stormfront’s table and cleared her throat.

“Well, hey, Starlight.” Stormfront looked up at her with a beaming smile. She tilted her phone to capture Annie, who reflexively smiled and politely waved at the Stormchasers watching. “You’re with me, right? Nothing offensive about appreciating other cultures?”

“No, of course not,” she said, confused by Stormfront’s nods to cultural diversity when Annie knew she was a racist. Maybe she was lying? It didn’t matter. “Can I talk to you for a second? Without the camera?”

Stormfront seemed to be in a good mood. She smiled and addressed the camera, “Gotta go, Stormchasers. Important Seven business to attend to. Remember: #CulturalAppreciation. I wanna see your faves!”

After a pause, she turned off the phone and stuck it in her bag. “What can I do you for, Starlight?”

Okay. This was when Annie needed to act.

Right.

Just needed to say it.

Confused at her hesitation, Stormfront tilted her head. “Yes?”

“I… uh…” Gritting her teeth, Annie slid into the seat beside Stormfront and looked her in the eyes… those big, pretty eyes… “I was wondering… hoping…”

Stormfront glanced around, mockingly pretending like she was checking for signs of danger, then gazed back at Annie. “Just spit it out.”

She cringed. Stormfront was entertaining but being the subject of her scorn always hurt Annie’s feelings a little. Still, Stormfront had a point. Annie spat it out, blurting all at once with the urgency she felt inside, “Go on a date with me! Please!”

Annie’s cheeks flushed red in embarrassment at how desperate she sounded and mumbled, “I would… like to… please.”

Stormfront looked startled. She glanced around, earnestly worried this time, and raised a finger to her lips. Retrieving her phone, she tapped on it for a moment and pulled up a photoshoot of Maeve holding a Pride flag, forcing an awful fake smile. “Do you see this, Starlight?”

Annie silently nodded.

“Do you want this to be your future?” Stormfront practically growled. “ _My_ future ?”

Annie shook her head. Maeve looked miserable. Annie didn’t want to go through anything close to that, let alone be responsible for it happening to Stormfront.

“Then keep your mouth--” Stormfront held up her thumb and index finger and brought them together, “--shut. Understood?”

Keeping her mouth firmly shut, lips pressed into a line, Annie nodded.

“Good.” Stormfront glanced around again. “Meet me in my trailer, eh… nine-ish. We’ll… talk about it then.”

Annie nodded again. She glanced around herself to see if anyone was interested in them and didn’t see anyone, but it made sense to be cautious. Offering Stormfront a polite smile, Annie rose from the table and slipped away. She didn’t feel comfortable unclenching her jaw until the tent was well behind her.

That… could have gone better. She needed to get a grip on her emotions. How was she supposed to get the upper hand on Stormfront if she couldn’t even handle herself?

She went back to her trailer to relax and prepare herself for the night’s meeting with Stormfront. Instead, she stressed, left to stew in her anxiety. Stormfront was so self-assured with her showmanship to a whole contingent of fans and her trademark snark, and Annie was so nervous and ill-prepared in comparison. Her big attempt to ask Stormfront out was… pretty much crap, and she’d just embarrassed herself and concerned Stormfront about discovery. 

Now, who knew what Stormfront thought? Was she into it? Was she just going to shut Annie down? She couldn’t tell, and she hated being on the spot like that.

Grabbing her phone, she started texting Hughie. She was halfway through a message announcing her success at asking out Stormfront--if not with the best execution--when she remembered he wouldn’t want to hear it. Hearing about his girlfriend cheating on him with a racist murderous Superheroine wasn’t something any guy would be thrilled about. She deleted the text and put the phone down.

Finally, at twenty minutes to nine, she decided she couldn’t wait any longer. With a deep breath to calm her nerves, she went to Stormfront’s trailer and knocked on the door.

No response

Annie knocked a second time.

Again, there was no response.

She tried the door. It opened, and she poked her head in. “Stormfront?”

The trailer was empty. Stormfront was out, but she had told Annie to come by at this general time, so Annie felt comfortable waiting inside. It was actually a great time to snoop.

Her eyes were drawn to a laptop sitting on a table. She opened it and was immediately greeted by a password entry box. Fortunately, it was the simple kind that only took uppercase and no numbers or special characters. 

Great, now she needed to guess Stormfront’s password… Well, Annie knew a guy from Capes for Christ whose password was JIMBEAM, so maybe it was the equivalent? She tried JAGERMEISTER.

The screen flashed the word  _ Incorrect _ at her. Damn.

Well, maybe it was the obvious secret Annie knew about Stormfront? She tried LIBERTY.

_ Incorrect _ .

Okay. Okay… 

Annie needed to be smart about this. She racked her brain for insights and scanned the trailer for clues. Her eyes lit upon a photograph of Stormfront hugging an older woman. Ah, yes, her overly controlling mother who wouldn’t let her perform in hero pageants. What was her name…? She typed ADELE and hit Enter.

_ Incorrect _ .

A high-pitched whistle pierced the air, loud enough to make her ears hurt. She frantically looked around for the source, following the high-intensity sound to a cabinet. Opening it, she found a pile of bags of candied almonds. She shifted the bags and found that they covered up a speaker small enough to fit in the palm of her hand. Turning it over in her hands, she tried to figure out how to turn it off. It didn’t seem to have any controls on it.

God, that shrill sound hurt! It was so loud!

The trailer door opened, and Annie spun around to see Stormfront enter with a remote control in her hand.

Raising an eyebrow at Annie, Stormfront pointed the remote at the speaker and pressed a button.

The shrieking stopped. 

Shaking her head, Stormfront shut the door and cocked her head as she inspected Annie. “Well, hey, there, Stormchaser #1. Watcha doin’?”

“I, uh…” Annie held up the speaker. “It was making all this noise!”

“Mmhmm,” Stormfront agreed, stepping closer. She took the speaker from her. “It does that when you type ADELE on the computer.”

“What?” Annie stared dumbly.

“Security,” Stormfront explained. “Do you really think I’d be stupid enough to blab about my password in public and tip-off my enemies?”

“I… I wanted to… That is…” Annie blinked, stunned at the extent of Stormfront’s intelligence. There was no excuse Annie could make to convince her she hadn’t been snooping. She was well and thoroughly caught red-handed.

“Yes?” Stormfront waited, eyes wide with anticipation of a pathetic excuse.

Annie needed to say something. Anything. “I like you.”

“Obviously,” Stormfront said dismissively. “Why were you on my computer?”

Annie closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. “I wanted to learn more about you. Because I like you.”

She opened her eyes to see how that went over. Stormfront was staring at her, eyes narrowed with predatory intensity.

“I couldn’t tell if you were into girls,” Annie said, drawing from the honest curiosity she had to make her words sound sincere. “I thought you might be, but you aren’t exactly open about that. I couldn’t find out from your Wikipedia page. I don’t know, maybe I could from your browser history?”

Stormfront studied her in silence, her eyes flitting around as she took in every detail of Annie’s body language. Finally, Stormfront relaxed, a smirk playing about her face. “Oh, Starlight! You meddlesome dumbass! You really are  _ precious _ .”

Well, hey, Annie successfully convinced her. Great. Now, she just had to deal with her crush’s mean-spirited sense of humor.

“Oh,  _ honey _ ,” Stormfront mocked, clapping a hand to her breastbone. “You only had to  _ ask _ . Trying to bust open my laptop?  _ Honey _ .”

“Stop that,” Annie snapped. “Just…  _ are _ you into girls?”

“Is Homelander American?” Stormfront said sarcastically. “ _ Yes _ , stupid! Why do you think I’ve been flirting with you all this time?”

“You were flirting?” Annie had suspected some of Stormfront’s responses were intentional flirting, but she wasn’t sure. It was always just vague enough to be passable as joking.

“Yes, idiot!” Stormfront shook her head in amusement. “And you thought you could guess my password…”

“Oh, come on! I only had three guesses before the alarm went off,” Annie said. She liked Stormfront’s edgy personality. She did. But being repeatedly insulted like that got on her nerves.

“Oh, really?” Stormfront juggled the speaker and remote from hand to hand. “What were your first guesses?”

“Jagermeister and…” Annie paused. Well, clearly, she couldn’t be honest. What else did she know about Stormfront? “Pippi Longstocking.”

Damn, that was actually a good guess. Why didn’t she try that?

“At least that one’s  _ two _ words,” Stormfront said, her eyes on her juggling. “Of course, my real password has  _ seven times _ as many. It’s called password strength, Starlight. You should learn it.”

“Oh.” Annie swallowed. “Yeah… There’s no way I’d get in there.”

Although, she supposed even an unknown lengthy password on that machine was relatively easy to guess compared to some of the forms of security out there. If Stormfront had the kind of laptop that asked for passwords with lowercase, spaces, numbers, and symbols, well, she wouldn’t even be able to begin to guess what her password was. Fourteen words? Annie might have a small chance with a dictionary and a lot of time to try combinations… Maybe.

Stormfront made a tsking sound. “You never should have tried. If you really want to date me, Starlight? I need to know I can trust you not to pull something sneaky on me when I’m not looking.”

“I won’t,” Annie said quickly. Of course, she didn’t intend to keep to it.

Stormfront didn’t buy it. She shook her head, setting the speaker and remote down beside the laptop. “Now, why don’t I believe you?”

“I… won’t,” Annie repeated, trying to sound convincing. “Seriously, I won’t.”

Stormfront pursed her lips. “Shouldn’t you be better at lying? What if I were a Superterrorist, Starlight? You could be alone in a room with some kind of mass-murdering torture expert someday. You should know something about withstanding interrogation!”

Annie’s cheeks flushed. Stormfront had her. Annie couldn’t reasonably continue this charade and expect to get into her good graces. “All right… I don’t entirely trust you. You… fight dirty. Getting in good with my mom like that? Like, damn.”

Stormfront smiled like Annie was flattering her. “So… you want to date someone you don’t trust?”

Yeah, that was a good point. The truth--that Annie viewed Stormfront as her enemy and wanted to take her down--really was what made the most sense. “Um…”

To buy time while she thought, Annie stepped closer to Stormfront as though it mattered to what she had to say.

Stormfront stared up at Annie, waiting for her response. Her hard gaze was cold and mean. It was intimidating, dominating, and… well… sexy. She was a powerful, monstrous, and hot woman in a skintight suit.

Annie looked her up and down. She hated Stormfront, was afraid of what she could do to people, and… 

She took a deep breath. Released it. Then she grabbed Stormfront by the shoulders and kissed her full on the mouth.


	7. She Did Nazi That Coming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh... if you were looking forward to seeing Annie domming Stormfront, you might want to sit down.

Annie had never kissed a woman before. At least, not romantically. It wasn’t the same as kissing a guy, with their firm skin and rough facial hair. Even a strong woman like Stormfront had soft, smooth, yielding skin. It was different… but no less interesting.

Stormfront didn’t initially react. Then, she kissed back hard. She brought her black-leather-gloved hand to the back of Annie’s head and wrapped her fingers around Annie’s hair, pulling her in close.

Annie was in the grip of a Supe murderer, and she didn’t exactly mind? Her heart rate shot up but not really from fear. Stormfront was… as bad as it sounded… _her_ people and wasn’t a direct threat unless she suspected Annie was working against her. Of course, Annie _was_ , but… at the moment… she seemed to be making a persuasive argument they were on the same side. Stormfront certainly seemed into it.

Her other hand reached around Annie’s waist to her ass and grabbed a handful of flesh, squeezing tightly. It almost hurt. Actually, it did hurt. It made her grunt, or was that a moan? It was excessive, a somewhat vulgar move on Stormfront’s part, and yet it provided an additional level of entertainment, like spice for the main course, which was kissing. Annie could come to appreciate it.

Breaking off the kiss, Stormfront leaned up and whispered in her ear, “You know what really turns me on? Putting sneaky backstabbers in their place.”

Stormfront slid her hands to Annie’s neck and waist, and with a few light touches--for a Supe--lifted her, spun her sideways, and slammed her front-down on the desk, laptop jabbing painfully into her stomach as Stormfront’s hand on her back kept her from rising.

“Oof, Stormfront!” Annie groaned. “Your laptop… might get crushed?”

Stormfront yanked the laptop out from under her and tossed it on her bed, pressing Annie down against a now-smooth surface.

“Thanks…” Looking at Stormfront, Annie shivered when she saw the anger in her eyes. Annie was 90% certain Stormfront wouldn’t actually hurt her but that tiny bit of uncertainty was enough to fill her with nerves.

“I can’t afford to date someone I can’t trust, Starlight,” Stormfront hissed through her teeth. “So, here’s how we’re going to play this. If you really want to be in a relationship with me, you have to promise to never act against me in any capacity, no matter how minor.” 

“Sure,” Annie agreed. It wasn’t like she needed to keep promises with racist murderers, so promising anything was fine.

“Good,” Stormfront said. “Here’s how you’ll show me you mean it: You will make a statement to your fans that you _are_ my biggest fan, Stormchaser #1, and give me your full support in every arena. Make sure there’s no doubt. If you’re not a Stormchaser, you’re not a real Starlight fan. Stake your reputation on my reputation. Acting against me would only be acting against yourself. Plus, if I find out about it, I’ll go on VNN with some adorable pictures Donna sent me of little Annie dressed as an American Indian, complete with red-painted skin, and keep your fans after they ditch you for being a big ol’ racist. Sound fair?”

“W-what?” Annie sputtered. That was not a good deal! She would be signing up to be Stormfront’s cheerleader. And… those pictures… She remembered doing a lot of stupid things as a kid. Part of that was not being as racially conscious as she was now. She made the mistake honestly but the media would eat her alive for it if it came out. “How is that fair? Either way, you come out on top!”

“Yes,” Stormfront agreed, nodding. “I like the simplicity of it. You having any sort of power in this arrangement is going to make me nervous, but I’ll feel so much better if you just give it all to me. You want to be my lover, right?”

“Yeah…” Annie felt trapped for more reasons than being physically pinned to a desk. She desperately wanted Stormfront to accept her, both because it would help Hughie and for her own selfish reasons. The fear of Stormfront leaking those images wasn’t something to scoff at, either.

A thought occurred to Annie. She could threaten to tell the world that Stormfront was Liberty, a racist murderer, and… thereby lose whatever chance Annie had of getting close to her and probably get the pictures leaked anyway. No, Stormfront had Annie in a bind, and she just had to handle it.

“Well, do we have a deal?” Stormfront increased pressure on her back, squeezing her tightly against the desk. Arrogant bitch.

“Yes, fine! Deal!” Annie could spend time working on a way out of her… prenup. That was essentially what Stormfront was doing, using her wiles and intimidation to force Annie into agreeing to an obligation that would greatly disadvantage her for the singular privilege of getting to date Stormfront, a privilege that was losing its appeal by the second.

“There you go, Starlight, making the smart decision for once,” Stormfront praised, her voice dripping with condescension. She relaxed her hand to the level of tension she started with, giving Annie a little relief. “And now we can date. I mean, as soon as you make that public statement, I’ll take you out to a cozy German pub I like to visit whenever I’m in New York.”

“...Cool.” Annie struggled to sound enthusiastic about her… well, it felt like a capture, like Stormfront caught her, blackmailed her, and now Annie was helpless in Stormfront’s grasp. Even the prospect of finally getting to date her felt hollow.

The word ‘German’ triggered a hazy memory from their drinking night, but Annie couldn’t quite recall it. Something about… Vikings? Well, Stormfront was into Vikings. Annie wasn’t sure how German fit into it. The word ‘Nazi’ came to mind, as it did when one thought about German, but Annie ignored it.

“Very cool.” Stormfront nodded. She stroked Annie’s hair, weaving its strands through her fingers. “Now, you get to be with _me_ …”

A warm bubbly feeling grew inside Annie at Stormfront’s attention. It annoyed her, like her stupid animal desires were making her enjoy Stormfront’s degrading treatment of her. Another part of her brain told the main part to shut up and just appreciate Stormfront finally taking an interest.

“Are you sure that’s all you want?” Annie let bitter sarcasm enter her voice. “You don’t need me to write ‘Stormfront’s bitch’ on my forehead in permanent marker?”

“ _Careful_ , Starlight.” Stormfront giggled, flashing a toothy grin. “I just might agree.”

Annie allowed herself to appreciate the humor of the matter, cracking a smile herself. It certainly helped to know that Stormfront wanted to keep things out of the limelight. “Can I get up, now?”

Stormfront’s hands stilled. “Well, I don’t know. It seems like you’re impeded.”

That sounded like a challenge to break free. Annie weighed her options. She could try physically wrestling Stormfront or using her powers… but maybe persuading her would be easier. 

Stormfront was nervous about Annie threatening her, so Stormfront was asserting authority… asserting dominance like a scared animal. Annie felt a pang of sympathy for her. Stormfront really just needed to be reassured she was safe.

“ _May_ I get up, please?” Annie tried, keeping her tone neutral and free of sarcasm.

Stormfront smirked and withdrew her hands, finally freeing Annie.

Annie seized the opportunity and stood while she had the chance. She looked bashfully at Stormfront and said what she needed to say to reassure Stormfront that she won this round. “Thanks. I’ll… I’ll make an Instagram account like you, okay? And I’ll tell everyone to… follow you and be a Stormchaser. I’ll get it done tonight and follow up tomorrow.”

Stormfront grinned as she spoke. “And that you’re my biggest fan. Remember that. I like that.”

“Stormchaser #1,” Annie agreed, trying not to cringe. “And you’ll… delete the Indian pics?”

“When did I agree to do that?” Stormfront cocked her head and shared a mean little smile. “I’ve already given them to Logan, my… Let’s call him Stormchaser #2. Betray me, and he’ll spread memes all over the Internet. Stay loyal, and you can just forget about it.”

Annie took a deep breath before she tried to respond. She was trapped. It was somewhere she wanted to be, in Stormfront’s personal sphere, but Annie had to sacrifice her personal freedom to do so. Stormfront had securely trapped her in the Stormchaser empire, and Annie was about to lock the last of her chains and hand Stormfront the key. ‘Just forget about it’? Yeah, right!

Stormfront calmly waited while Annie struggled to compose herself. Stormfront was now confident she was in control and just watched Annie with a smirk.

Shuddering, Annie abandoned any attempt to mitigate the damage. If Stormfront needed this to feel secure, that’s what Annie wanted… for the short term, at least. She offered Stormfront a smile. “Wow, you really got me in a bind, don’t you?”

Stromfront grinned and nodded.

Annie took another breath. “Yeah. Okay. Whatever. You got me. I’m going to give you the Stormchaser thing, and then you’ll have me even more. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Glad to hear it,” Stormfront said. Without missing a beat, she added, “Logan keeps the pics.”

Annie nodded, accepting this condition. “You know, I’m not racist. Those pictures aren’t me. I mean, they’re out of context. I didn’t know it was bad at the time.”

“Of _course_ , you’re not racist,” Stormfront agreed, her tone sweetly soothing. “Think about it. Would a white supremacist--I mean, someone who _really_ likes being white--pretend to be what they’d consider a lesser race? That makes no sense. The liberal media is so oversensitive, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Annie said doubtfully, glancing away from Stormfront to think it over.

Annie knew Stormfront was, herself, a racist and probably not a good source of information on this subject, but her words rang true. Hell, she might even be talking about herself as an archetypal white supremacist. That would make sense. If she was saying she as a white supremacist would never deign to dress as a ‘lesser race’, well, that was reassuring in its own way that Annie shared none of Stormfront’s racist attributes. So, yeah, the liberal media was oversensitive if it would determine Annie was a racist based solely on these pictures that Stormfront was holding over her head, but Stormfront was still a murderous white supremacist blackmailing her who needed to be taken down, so Annie knew her real enemy wasn’t the liberal media.

“The liberal media _is_ oversensitive,” she agreed, looking back at Stormfront. “There are far worse racists out there, right? Real scumbags out there racially profiling innocent people of color who need the book thrown at them?”

“Oh, sure.” Stormfront nodded, showing no sign of intimidation or even remotely identifying with the subject. “Anyone who discriminates against an innocent P-O-C deserves all sorts of hell. In fact, I’ll make that the subject of my next video, along with a condemnation of _any_ white person who wears blackface, redface, or anything like that. You know, after I thank you for sending all your fans my direction.”

“Right…” Annie winced. A part of her just wanted to get that over with so Stormfront wouldn’t be able to tease her about it.

“No one is less of a racist than I am,” Stormfront claimed. “So, if I endorse you, your reputation is clean. You can count on that. Anything ever comes up, I’ll suppress it. Logan will run a counter-meme campaign. You’ll be golden. But if you decide you want to be a pain in my ass, your rep is forfeit.”

Annie nodded. It was like joining the mob. Stormfront was like the Godfather. Annie would get all the benefits of being a loyal Stormchaser, but Stormfront would also hold blackmail material over her forever. “So, basically… you have me fucked.”

“Over a desk,” Stormfront agreed, her eyes shining with triumph. “Which reminds me. We were getting somewhere…”

Grasping Annie’s shoulders, Stormfront leaned up and kissed her. It was soft, gentle, and completely dominating. After all, she had Annie good.

Well aware of the sheer lack of power she had, Annie felt a real sense of terror grow within her. Her body was all nerves when she hesitantly kissed Stormfront back. For better or worse, Annie was now Stormfront’s girlfriend up until the point she deemed otherwise. 

A knock at the door interrupted them. Stormfront ignored it and continued kissing Annie. However, the knock kept steadily coming, and she eventually released her and went to answer the door. Annie tried to compose herself as she looked to see who it was.

Stormfront opened the door, and Homelander walked in like he owned the place, shutting the door behind him.

He smiled at her and then at Annie, looking unsurprised to see her there. “Well, hello, girls. Nice to see you two--” he winked at Stormfront, who shot him a look of annoyance, “--getting along so well.”

“Oh, you know us women, always gabbing away,” Stormfront joked, a sardonic edge to her voice. “Men can hardly try stopping us.”

“Hmm, judging from the smells wafting around here…” He fanned his hands toward his face and deeply inhaled. “What’s that, pain and terror from Starlight? Sexual arousal from both of you? I’d say you’re doing more than _talking_.”

Ugh. Homelander’s enhanced senses were more than a tad violating in their scope, not to mention how he revealed them.

Smiling paternalistically, he stepped closer to Stormfront and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “You aren’t scaring our favorite blonde, now are you?”

“She had it coming,” Stormfront said, completely unconcerned. She smiled up at him. “Right, Starlight?”

Annie cringed. A part of her hoped that she could depend on Homelander to get her out of this jam, but she was committed to getting with Stormfront, so she forced herself to nod. “That’s right. I, uh, ‘had it coming’.”

Oh, Annie hated the way that sounded. Like she was the one who unfairly antagonized Stormfront. Like Stormfront wasn’t herself a monster. Like she was in charge, and Annie was her abused wife. ‘Had it coming.’ Whatever.

“And you already know she’s into it,” Stormfront said. “ _Right_ , Starlight?”

“Right…” Annie got out through gritted teeth.

“Well, I’m impressed,” he said to Stormfront, ignoring Annie. “Getting her trained up and everything.”

Stormfront nodded. “We still have some kinks to work out, but she’s already my… What was that you offered to write on your forehead, Starlight? ‘Stormfront’s bitch’? She’s my bitch.”

Annie felt a sinking sensation. Her fear metastasized into general pervasive hopelessness. Stormfront and Homelander were conspiring, and he wasn’t going to help Annie. If anything, his involvement would be worse.

He smiled at Annie, his expression lascivious. “I’m sure we’ll be one happy family, the three of us.”

“The three?” Annie looked at Stormfront for answers and saw her looking at Homelander, eyes shining with adoration.

Oh. The two of them were together. Of _course_ , they were. Of course, Annie wasn’t Stormfront’s first choice of partner. Stormfront wanted a traditional husband, someone who saw himself as in charge. If Annie was Stormfront’s bitch, and Stormfront was Homelander’s, then… 

“There’s that fear again.” He sniffed in Annie’s direction. “Aw, I think I scared her.”

“She probably needs time to adjust,” Stormfront mused. “Why don’t we give her a little break? Besides, she needs to make an Instagram announcement tonight, don’t you, Starlight?”

“That’s right.” Annie focused her energy on controlling her voice. Homelander might have a sense of how freaked out she was, but she still could keep Stormfront from receiving the satisfaction. “I’ve got to tell everyone what a big fan I am of Stormfront!”

Stormfront smiled. “Goodnight… Stormchaser #1.”

Annie made herself smile pleasantly. “Goodnight, Stormfront… Homelander.”

She walked toward the exit, eager to get out of there, but Homelander grabbed her wrist.

“Oh, before you leave, there’s something you should know.” He squeezed just hard enough to hurt, getting the point across that he could crush her bones if he so chose.

“I… Yes, Homelander?” Annie smiled, putting on the image of the polite young woman who did everything she was told and certainly wasn’t a threat by any means.

He looked her up and down. “You have a handprint on your ass where Stormfront bruised you. It’s starting to show. Also, your lipstick is all messed up, Stormfront’s lipstick is on your face, and someone’s clearly been playing with your hair. Better see to that pronto. You wouldn’t want the world knowing what a slut you are, would you?”

Annie trembled, both with fear and a fast-growing undercurrent of rage. “No, I wouldn’t. Thank you. I’ll be sure to fix it before I make the video.”

Winking, he released her wrist. It was surely going to bruise, just like the handprint, and Annie knew that was intentional. Just a little reminder of his power over her… like Stormfront’s own token of power over her. They marked her.

“Oh, Starlight?” Stormfront cut in before Annie left. “You have a really pretty complexion. I’ve always thought so. It goes with your lovely hair. I’m looking forward to seeing a lot more of you. You’re going to make a great Stormchaser. Really, you are.”

Annie tried to appreciate the compliment without the last part ruining it. “Thanks, Stormfront. That… means a lot coming from you.”

And it did. Stormfront was rarely so generous. Most of her compliments sounded like insults. Getting this kind of appreciation was a treat. That said, the racist killer complimenting Annie’s fair skin and blonde hair was all kinds of fucked up, and it left her with an uneasy feeling inside. She was signing up to be a racist’s toady footstool.

Finally, the two of them let her leave Stormfront’s trailer, and Annie hurried back to her own to clean up. She would fix her hair and makeup, cover up the handprint, and make the video to bolster Stormfront’s power and leave her with Annie’s fans if Stormfront ever became aware of Annie’s betrayal. Well, she just had to ensure Stormfront never found out until it was too late. 

Stormfront had her proverbial dick shoved down Annie’s throat. Sooner or later, Annie would bite it off.


	8. Sweet Land of Liberty

“Starlight… Stormfront… What the hell were you two idiots thinking?!” Ashley demanded, having both of them cornered in her office. She stalked forward, teeth set in fury. “All team-ups have to be authorized! Unscripted professional endorsements are strictly off-limits, let alone ones more than thirty minutes long!”

“Sorry…” Annie muttered, wincing. This came at a bad time. She was sore, her body bruised by two asshole Superheroes, and her emotional state wasn’t exactly at its sturdiest.

Last night, she took two hours to write an impromptu speech, edited it twice, and then started an Instagram account, Stormchaser_NumOne, where she proceeded to kiss Stormfront’s ass to the best of her ability. She did everything Stormfront asked, both directly and implicitly to leave no room for error. Annie fucked over her own brand for the sake of the racist murderer, to strengthen said murderer’s hold over her, because it was seemingly worth it to get the chance to enter her inner circle.

To make sure the video worked, she linked it from The Seven’s Facebook page and followed Stormfront_official, which immediately followed her back. The fans were quick to notice. Annie could hardly sleep at all, so she just spent time checking out the impact of her video. Overnight, she watched as Stormfront’s followers doubled and practically tripled in count. There were far more Stormchasers in the world now. Good job, Annie.

She glanced to her left, where Stormfront stood a few feet away. A look of annoyance was on her face, directed at Ashley.

“Hey, I can’t help it if people like me.” Stormfront shrugged. “You can hardly blame Starlight for recognizing talent.”

Talent. Sure. Stormfront was a talented manipulator and a bully. Annie wished she saw it before Stormfront got her into such a compromising situation. Oh, hell, she’d had a good idea it was there; she hadn’t wanted to see it. Why? Because Stormfront was cute. Annie got herself trapped in blackmail because a pretty girl led her on. That stung just as badly as, well, the mark on her ass, which she now kept discreetly covered by wearing her old suit.

“You…! You have been nothing but trouble since you got here!” Ashley stabbed her finger in Stormfront’s face. Ooh, not the best move on Ashley’s part.

Annie watched with concern as Stormfront’s expression shifted from annoyed to angry.

“Want to be a nine-fingered muggle?” Stormfront snarled, showing her teeth as if about to bite. “Keep it up. See what happens. I dare you.”

“You are not allowed to threaten me,” Ashley said, but she dropped her hand anyway. “I have half a mind to report your insubordination to Stan Edgar himself.”

Stormfront cocked her head, her eyes darkening. “Won’t that be interesting.”

Yikes…! Annie did not like the way Stormfront looked, like a vicious beast about to attack. She tried to intervene.

“I’m… sorry I didn’t clear it with you first,” Annie said. “The thing is… I do like Stormfront, and I guess I was just overwhelmed with… uh…”

Ashley and Stormfront both watched her. Ashley vibrated with rage, but Annie’s eyes were drawn to Stormfront, who smiled at her with greedy anticipation. She waved toward Annie in a ‘keep going’ gesture.

“S-Stormfront’s really the… second-best Superhero I’ve ever seen,” she babbled. “After Homelander, of course. And Pip-- That is… I mean, she’s new to the Seven, but she’s… proven herself. She stopped that Superterrorist and has all these followers, and for good reason! She’s strong, and charismatic, and…”

“Yeah, I already watched your unauthorized endorsement, Starlight,” Ashley interrupted. “Or is that ‘Stormchaser #1’? What the hell even _is_ that? I had high hopes for you, went to bat for you even when Stillwell said you looked like trouble, and you throw away all that good will to become a pathetic Supe _groupie_?”

Annie felt like crying. She hadn’t wanted to endorse Stormfront at all, but she was blackmailed into it, and now she had to deal with Ashley throwing abuse at her for just doing what she needed to do to survive?

“Leave her alone,” Stormfront said quietly but with a commanding tone. “She hasn’t done anything wrong.” 

Annie looked at Stormfront, surprised at her, of all people, coming to Annie’s defense.

Stormfront winked at her and turned back to Ashley. “ _A-Train_ is out there being a junkie, making us all look bad, and you want to yell at two young women for… let’s see… being friendly? Supporting each other in a hostile workplace still reeling from its sexual abuse scandal? Look at you, Uncle Tom, setting back the feminist movement.”

“Oh, please!” Ashley rolled her eyes. “Like this isn’t some Supe bid for power. I know how you people think! I ought to have you marked for termination.”

“Gotta be cutthroat, right?” Stormfront cocked her head. “Well, it doesn’t really matter what you imagine I’m thinking. When I call a press conference to tell my side of the story, what _I_ think becomes less relevant than what the _public_ thinks, and I can already tell you that they’ll listen to me and Starlight when I tell them to ‘believe women’, #MeToo. They’ll consider you a ‘rape apologist’ and call for your removal, after which, you’ll be lucky to get a job at Taco Bell, much less a major corporation like Vought. So, we can get that whole messy business underway, or you can apologize to Starlight and get to work scheduling our team-up missions. What’ll it be, bitch?”

Wow. That was… evil. Like, it was brilliant but _nasty_. Stormfront’s grasp on media manipulation was great and terrible. Annie considered herself lucky that she was no longer on Stormfront’s bad side. 

Ashley was stunned into silence. She trembled, clearly wanting to shout but was stopped by Stormfront’s raised eyebrow. Finally, Ashley jerked away from her to face Annie and, fuming, forced out a rasping, “…Sorry.”

“Uh…” Annie started to respond, but Ashley wasn’t actually interested. It was Stormfront she cared about.

Before Annie could say anything, Ashley jerked back to face Stormfront and seethed. “Satisfied?”

They were ignoring Annie. Typical. They were two strong women locked in a power struggle, and Annie only happened to be in the room. This was giving her flashbacks of Stormfront and Homelander.

Ah, yes, that problem. Homelander would be in her life now, busybodying and expecting something from her. Annie had a sneaking suspicion he wouldn’t take rejection too well. Just one more bully to manage. Her life was _so_ sucky right now.

Stormfront held up a finger, making Ashley wait. “Hold on. Starlight, do you accept? Or do you want her to grovel a little?”

“Uh…” Annie looked at Ashley, who looked furious but… impotently so. She was as caught in Stormfront’s web of manipulation as Annie was. The difference was, Stormfront was letting Annie share some of Stormfront’s power, giving her a taste of being on top.

Looking to Stormfront with a raised eyebrow, Annie wondered if she should. It certainly went against her ethics, but… well, Stormfront had them both trapped, and it would feel good to exercise some power, even if it was only power given at Stormfront’s whim.

“If you want,” Stormfront said, granting permission. That was how she said it, like she was literally Annie’s boss. It was condescending. And yet… 

Annie appreciated it. She was in a sticky situation where her base desire was to take advantage of what Stormfront offered but her ethics got in the way, and Stormfront was giving her permission to do it anyway. It was simple and petty, but it was enough.

Ashley had made Annie’s life hell. She forced her in that degrading suit and generally was a bad boss, and here Stormfront was offering to let Annie push Ashley around a little. It was tempting. It would make being under Stormfront’s thumb more bearable.

“Grovelling… could be nice,” Annie said finally. She could like this development. A little bit of power… just a little.

“You heard her,” Stormfront snapped at Ashley. “Get on your knees and beg for her forgiveness.”

“Whoa, uh, that’s not necessary.” Annie held up her hands. “I didn’t mean… She doesn’t have to…”

Ashley glared at them both. Even when Annie was helping her, she wasn’t appreciative, just angry. She was just a mean person, in the end.

“Yes, she does,” Stormfront insisted. “You deserve it.”

“I…” Annie trailed off as she watched Ashley fume in front of her. Did Annie deserve it? Stormfront flattered her, and she kind of liked it.

“You’re a piece of shit,” Ashley said, sneering at Stormfront. She looked at Annie. “Both of you.”

Annie winced at the insult. Didn’t Ashley realize Annie had nothing to do with this? It was all Stormfront!

No, Annie realized. All Ashley knew was that Annie dubbed herself Stormchaser #1 and dedicated a good chunk of energy into promoting Stormfront. From her perspective, Annie was just an extension of Stormfront, with whom she’d agreed about making Ashley grovel. Maybe she had a point.

“Get on your fucking knees!” Stormfront emphatically jabbed a finger at the ground in front of Annie. “Do you want your career destroyed? I’d do it in a heartbeat!”

There was a strange sense of deja vu as Ashley reluctantly sank down before Annie. She was once in a similar position, kneeling to the Deep to secure her spot in the Seven. The act she had to perform was substantially worse than the mere bruise to pride Ashley was in for, but the dynamic was the same. Annie felt gross and uneasy in the Deep’s place, but there was also a liberating quality to the whole experience. Someone who hurt her was showing her respect for once. Yes, it was coerced, but if neither Annie nor Ashley could go against Stormfront, Annie was glad Stormfront wanted this particular arrangement.

“Please forgive me, Starlight,” Ashley said flatly as she looked up into Annie’s eyes. She wasn’t really contrite, of course, but the fact that she was going along with it… Well, it didn’t suck.

Yeah, it was liberating. An appropriate gift from the woman formerly known as Liberty. Annie turned and looked at her smiling face, imagining her executing an innocent black person with the same level of joy, and she shivered.

“Don’t look at me,” Stormfront urged. She tilted her head toward Ashley. “Look at her.”

Annie looked back at Ashley, her former tormentor rendered helpless. God, it felt good. Oh, sure, it felt awful, too, but… It was thrilling. Annie finally had power… or the illusion of it.

“Now,” Stormfront said, “... _do_ you forgive her? Or should she up her begging game? ‘Cause she’s doing a really shitty job at it now.”

“I forgive her,” Annie said hastily, turning back to Stormfront. This went far enough. Actually, it went past far enough the moment Stormfront made her threat. Stormfront was the bully, not Annie.

“Then look her in the eye and release her,” Stormfront said. “Remember: you’re the one in control.”’

Was she? _Was_ she? Annie knew it was a lie. Stormfront had all the power here. 

Yet, Stormfront was coercing her into having some measure of power over Ashley. Annie looked into her eyes, taking in her infuriated, humiliated expression and… shivered with anticipation. Annie opened her mouth… and drew it out, savoring Ashley’s discomfort, knowing this could be the only opportunity Annie had to see her like this, before finally asserting, “I forgive you.”

Ashley looked at Stormfront to see if that was enough. Annie just took in the details of her face, still humiliated and weak. It was her sustenance when Stormfront starved her.

“Well, since Starlight is so kind, so generous, I guess your career is safe,” Stormfront said. “Just, uh… watch your step? Try not to shit on us in the future? I might not be able to calm her down next time.”

Ashley looked back at Annie and shot her a death glare. Wait, Stormfront was claiming she calmed Annie down? Ashley thought this was Annie’s idea?!

Confused and more than a little alarmed at this retroactive reassignment of blame, Annie turned to Stormfront to set things straight. “I’m not…”

Stormfront pressed a leather-covered finger to Annie’s lips, silencing her. “Shhh, Starlight! Everything’s in order. Ashley, you may stand.”

Annie froze, unable to focus on anything but the sensation of Stormfront touching her lips. It was heavenly. Stormfront was amazing… Touching her. Oh, God. Stormfront’s finger… Wow…

Ashley stood and immediately backed away from them. She scowled with disgust. “I have half a mind to tell Homelander.”

“Cool,” Stormfront said. “Make sure to use plenty of detail about how badass we were and how pathetic you were. Tell us if he laughs.”

“Get out!” Ashley hissed through clenched teeth.

“Say ‘please,’” Stormfront ordered, glaring at Ashley. “You should respect your betters.”

Ashley hesitated but eventually ground out, “...Please.”

“There you go.” Stormfront smiled. She removed her finger from Annie’s mouth and took her hand instead, an act that also made the butterflies in her stomach go a-flutter. “C’mon, let’s let her think about what she did.”

Annie nodded, barely following Stormfront’s strange wording. She cared much more about the thrill that went up her arm, the electrical tingle as her enhanced electromagnetic field brushed against Stormfront’s own enhanced EM field. They were of the same kind of people in more ways than one. She felt electrical sparks beneath her skin, prickling not unpleasantly, and smiled absently as Stormfront led her from the room.

“I think you’ll be happy as my top Stormchaser,” Stormfront mused as they walked. “You’ll get all kinds of benefits from being in my favor. That was just a sample. Believe me, I have plans for you.”

That was enough to shake Annie from her reverie. “Plans?”

Stormfront nodded. “It’s called ‘mainstreaming’. I have a thriving brand, but it’s kind of a niche thing. You, though, you have mainstream appeal. We join forces, and we’ll each help each other. I’ll give you a certain aggressive quality you’ve been lacking to keep you from getting in trouble again, and you’ll give me legitimacy in the eyes of the public. Unless, of course, you want to pull something sneaky, in which case you’ll give me legitimacy, and I’ll sink your career so fast your head will spin. But you wouldn’t do that, would you?”

Annie shook her head, her mind reeling. Holy shit. Hoooly shit… She was in way over her head. This was a bad idea. She never should have pursued Stormfront in the first place. She was holding hands with a stone cold killer who would fuck her over in an instant. Oh, this was a bad place to be in…

“Aw, did I scare you?” Stormfront tilted her head in amusement, like a young kid might look at a frog she’d been poking with a stick. “That’s okay, you don’t have to be afraid of little old me. I won’t hurt you unless you give me a reason to. Be a good girl, and I’ll be your best friend. I’ll be your guardian angel. Just please me.”

Annie nodded. Her heart beat fast in a depraved mix of both fear and excitement at getting to spend time with her crush like this. “I’ll… be good.”

“Great!” Stormfront smiled adorably like she hadn’t just been threatening Annie. “I made a reservation at the pub for Friday night. It’s casual dining run by this lovely German-American couple, quite nice. My nana was friends with them way back when, and they’ve just stayed friends of the family. I think you’ll get along well with them. Anyway, they value discretion, so we’ll be able to enjoy ourselves without the press breathing down our necks.”

“Sounds good.” Discretion was always a valuable thing as a celebrity. Annie appreciated that and the chance to actually date Stormfront would be the one major benefit of sacrificing her brand on the altar of Stormfront. If she had to be blackmailed, she would take advantage of that, damn it.

That said… friends of Stormfront’s family? Friends of Stormfront’s nana? Knowing that Stormfront was at least in her seventies, that sounded suspiciously like a reference to childhood friends of Stormfront herself. Maybe this date was an opportunity to peer under Liberty’s hood and learn something about Annie’s foe.

“Sounds great,” she amended. “I can’t wait to meet them.”

Stormfront flashed her a smile of pride. In another world, another life free of Liberty and racism and Supes, Annie could see Stormfront… or whatever her civilian name was… as a real potential partner. She could see herself getting together with Stormfront and having a solid, respectable life together. But it wasn’t that world. 

Annie loved Hughie. That was where her future lay. Stormfront was a Superterrorist, and Annie would do her Superhero duty and bring her to justice.


	9. #ASAB

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keep in mind that this is entertainment first and foremost. The various commentaries on race are as are relevant to the characters who spout them--a literal Nazi, a white conservative who thinks she's woke, and a black guy who wears black power T-shirts--and reflect them as individuals far more than they reflect the author's perspective.

Annie expected Stormfront would stick to her like glue, but she actually headed off on her own shortly after the incident with Ashley.

“I’ve got to make some arrangements for our mainstreaming collabs,” Stormfront said, giving her a wink before leaving. “It’s all so exciting!”

Annie did not find it exciting. It made an emotional impact like a sledgehammer and left her with cold dread. She did not want to help mainstream Stormfront, but there was no other choice at this point. It was the necessary price to pay to get Stormfront to date Annie, and from there she could get whatever intelligence she could on Stormfront. 

Annie still didn’t like it.

When she got back to her room, she turned on her phone and found a text from an unknown number, which meant it was from Hughie:  _ We saw your video. We have some concerns. Let’s meet. _

She shuddered. The clipped message spoke volumes. He was clearly on edge and was trying to be diplomatic. She imagined all the rebels yelling at each other while he texted… or worse, quiet with their conviction that she really was Stormfront’s groupie.

_ I’m not her groupie, _ she texted.  _ It’s all part of the plan. _

His response came almost immediately:  _ We really need to talk in person. If you’re really on our side, come talk to us. _

She cringed. Were her loyalties so in doubt? She did what she needed to do! Didn’t she?

They arranged a time and place to meet: a pizza place not far from the One WTC with enough outdoor seating to blend into the crowd.

Annie went in her civilian clothes, adding a pair of opera gloves to her usual ensemble to hide the bruise Homelander left on her wrist. Once there, she got a slice of cheese pizza and located one of the black wrought iron tables set up on the sidewalk, with the disguised but still recognizable forms of Hughie and M.M. sitting side by side. There were so few skinny white guys sitting next to big black guys, fewer still with the former eating messily and the latter eating with utmost tidiness while looking at his friend with disgust. She slid into the hot seat across from them, setting her plate on the table.

“Hey, guys.” She smiled with forced enthusiasm as she tried to broadcast goodwill. “It’s nice to see you.”

They did not do the same. M.M. fixed her with a death glare, while Hughie threw his half-eaten pizza down on his plate and shuddered with a familiar mix of fear and anger. It was the same she felt when facing Homelander.  


“What are you  _ thinking _ ?!” Hughie yell-whispered. “Stormfront already has way too much influence, and you… you…”

“You give her more,” M.M. finished. He tapped his knife three times on his plate before meticulously cutting off a bite of pizza from his evenly-cut slice. “ _ Way _ more.”

“Yeah… not my first choice, either,” she said. “I kinda have to, though. Guys, this is good. She’s finally lowering her guard!”

The two of them just stared at her for a moment.

“Jesus…” M.M. sighed. He tapped his fork three times on his plate before stabbing the bite and sticking it in his mouth. As he chewed, he resumed glaring at her.

“Lowering her guard?” Hughie echoed. “You literally just became a Stormchaser! She would lower her guard to her biggest fan, wouldn’t she?”

“I’m not really her biggest fan!” She looked at M.M. plaintively. “You told me to get in good with her! Well, it’s working.”

“I told you to flirt,” he corrected. “I didn’t tell you to help her take over the media landscape!”

“She’s a murderer,” Hughie said, his voice squeaking a little as emotion overcame him. “She’s a racist killer!”

“Man, I told you all Supes are bastards,” M.M. said, shaking his head. “This is exactly what they do: look after their own.”

“I’m not looking after her!” she insisted. “She… I had to do it. She caught me snooping around her trailer and… she has something on me.”

“Uh…” Hughie spread his hands. “What? What does she have on you that could turn you into a Stormchaser?”

“I’m not a Stormchaser,” she snapped. Then she thought about the question and felt shame creep through her. “Just… uh… embarrassing pictures.”

“Like what, you got hookers to piss on you in bed?” Hughie raised his eyebrows. “What could she possibly have on you that’s worth going to the dark side?”

“Uh…” She glanced at M.M., feeling him judging her and looked down at the table, where her uneaten pizza sat, getting cold. “I… wasn’t always this… woke.”

“Oh, Christ…” M.M. made a sound of disgust. “So, you did something racist and instead of facing up to it, you help a racist Supe accrue power. That’s how the system works, doesn’t it? It’s how it’s always worked. Except, now, ‘girls get it done’ next to the guys, and all you racist white ladies stick together to fight the patriarchy or whatnot, grinding the rest of us down.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault,” she tried to defend herself, lifting her eyes to glare back at him. “What I did wasn’t that bad. The liberal media would just blow it out of proportion. I am getting in a position to do some real good, okay?”

“Liberal media…” M.M. shook his head and looked at Hughie. “You really picked yourself a good one there.”

“And what… What good have you done?” Hughie demanded. “Or will do? What justifies helping her besides saving your own ass?”

“I, uh…” She winced. There was no way they’d take this the right way. “I kissed her, and… I got her to agree to, uh… going… on a date… with me?”

Hughie and M.M. looked at each other and then both glared at her.

“You’re cucking me to be with a white supremacist,” Hughie said. It was a statement, not a question. “Like, you basically just asked me to propose to you, and then you do this. What else am I supposed to think?”

“Sounds right to me,” M.M. agreed. “You must not be  _ white enough _ for her.”

She winced. “I… don’t really like her? I mean, she’s hot, but I really… She scares me. I could never be with someone who scares me. But, you, Hughie, you… I trust you. You’re the person I want to spend my life with. Stormfront is just someone I thought I liked when I didn’t know her well. Now that I know what she is, all I want to do is  _ stop her _ before she hurts anyone else. That’s what all of this is for.”

Hughie and M.M. looked at each other, discussing her words through subtle facial expressions.

“Stormfront is hot,” M.M. paraphrased Annie. “Can you really blame her?”

“Wow,” Hughie agreed. He looked back at her. “Annie, I don’t know if I can do this anymore.”

She blinked, feeling her fatigue starting to get to her. “You’re breaking up with me? Stormfront is digging her claws into me, and you can’t do this anymore?”

“I’m… sorry she’s doing that?” he offered. “But, uh… it’s obvious you’re not doing this for me anymore, if you ever were. You…  _ like _ her…”

“I don’t like her,” Annie insisted, to herself as much as to Hughie. “I know what she is. I’m doing this to take her down!”

“If you wanted to take her down, you would have made a video to tell the world what she did as Liberty,” M.M. said quietly. “Instead, you made a video to endorse her. Those aren’t the actions of someone who hates her, but they are… you know, the other thing.”

Damn it! Why weren’t they listening? Her fingers clenched down on the table, causing squeaks as she left large dents in the metal.

They tensed. M.M. brought his hand to a concealed gun in his pocket while Hughie looked ready to bolt. They were like living examples of both fight and flight reflexes.

Great, now she was scaring her friends. Or people who should be her friends. She made herself relax. To show she wasn’t a threat, she lifted her hands and showed her palms.

“Look, I am in this fight to take down Stormfront,” she forced out through gritted teeth. “I’ll do it with or without your help, but I would prefer with. Something tells me she won’t go down easy, and I need all the friends I can get. You want to break up with me? Fine, but when I dig up intel on her, I’m taking it to you, and you’ll use it to help me take her down. Okay?”

M.M. and Hughie silently conferred. They looked slightly more confident about the situation when they turned back this time.

“I guess we could do that,” Hughie said. “If you want to date Stormfront so badly.”

“I don’t want to date Stormfront,” she said, knowing she was lying but trying to get the point across that she wasn’t racist.

“Please, you’re embarrassing yourself.” M.M. gave her a look of contempt.

“If you don’t want to date Stormfront, then do what he said,” Hughie suggested. “Take out your phone, log into that Stormchaser account and make a video condemning her. Call her out as Liberty. Tell the world what she is.”

She swallowed. That was out of the question. It would undo all the good she did gaining Stormfront’s trust. She’d destroy Annie’s career over it, and who knew what Homelander might do to her? She spread her arms helplessly. “I… can’t.”

They nodded, accepting her choice as staking her loyalties on the side of Stormfront and Supe corruption.

“Then, I guess I can’t be your boyfriend,” Hughie said simply. “Good luck taking down Stormfront… with your lips.”

What a rude thing to say! Her mouth fell open in disgust. She stood up from the table, lifted her plate, eyed the pizza for a moment before deciding she wasn’t hungry anymore, and let it fall back on the table. “Looking forward to giving you what you need to take her down.”

Turning dramatically to make a scene as she walked off, she stopped abruptly to keep from slamming into a young Asian woman standing still as she stared up at Annie with an expression of cold fury.

She recognized the woman from the Superterrorist-hunting mission where Stormfront bagged her trophy kill. She was the Superterrorist who got away.

“Uh… hi,” Annie offered. “It’s… Kimiko, right?”

Kimiko just stared in response. She cracked her knuckles intimidatingly.  


“Whoa, Kimiko!” M.M. came up behind Annie. “It’s okay. She’s not a threat.”

Annie nodded, put off by the death glare. “What he said. I’m going to help--”

Kimiko slammed her fist in Annie’s midsection, propelling her backwards through the air. She crashed into a table and fell on top of the squirming bodies of civilians, who soon started screaming in her ears. People looked around, trying to figure out what was going on, as Annie stumbled to her feet.

“Stop!” Hughie ran toward Kimiko, crossing in front of M.M. “She’s still a friend!”

Kimiko grabbed Hughie by his waist and threw him into M.M., causing the two to crash into the crowd like a bowling ball into pins. It was a strike.

Screams now filled the air as people ran around like stampeding cattle. Suddenly, everyone knew this was a Superterrorist attack.

“Stormfront, help us!” someone shouted, invoking the one Supe most associated with defeating Superterrorists. Then more shouted, a rising chorus of cries begging, pleading Stormfront to come and save them. “Stormfront…!”

This enraged Kimiko all the more. She definitely was not a fan, which explained her animosity toward Annie. She must have seen the video, too. Well, who hadn’t, by now?

Annie held up her hands in a gesture of peace and walked slowly toward Kimiko. “Look, you don’t like me. I get it. I’m not very popular right now. But, Stormfront? If she comes down here, she is going to  _ kill _ you. If you leave now, I’ll let you go. If you don’t, you leave me no choice but to call in reinforcements.”

Kimiko studied her. Without warning, she lunged forward, grabbed Annie by her wrists, and bent her arms back painfully. Her momentum pushed Annie backwards, and she stumbled back off the sidewalk and into the street.

A speeding car smacked into them, the impact damaging the car more than them but still having the force to knock them apart. They slid away from each other across the dark concrete.

Cars screeched to a halt. Horns blared, as the people behind them weren’t privy to knowing about the fight taking place.

Annie activated her communicator and sent out a rapid Supe Under Attack alert, adding the newly established code for Superterrorist (or Supervillain, as Homelander insisted on calling them), gave the location, and then growled, “Send  _ Stormfront _ .”

She wasn’t sure why she added that last part. Maybe she was hoping to scare Kimiko away. Talk of Stormfront might be the only way to control her. Or maybe she just felt petty. If everyone was going to call her a Stormchaser, why not play the part out of pure spite?

Kimiko narrowed her eyes and leaped at Annie, soaring through the air like a leopard above her.

Thrusting out her hands, Annie burned bright and lit up Manhattan with a second sun. Civilians screamed, not knowing what was happening. She saw the crowd turn away, shielding their eyes.

Kimiko struck the roadway beside her in a crunching heap of limbs, stumbling around blindly.

M.M. and Hughie ran up, murmuring soothing words to Kimiko as they helped her stand.

“Come on, we’ve got to get out of here,” M.M. said, shooting Annie a glare. “ _ She’s _ coming.”

Hughie looked at Annie like he wanted to say something but let the thought die. He put a hand on Kimiko’s shoulder and helped M.M. lead her to safety.

Annie dusted herself off as she watched them go. Great, Stormfront made Annie her bitch. Her friends hated her. A Superterrorist tried to kill her. Annie wasn’t having a very ‘up’ day.

A sonic boom cracked as Homelander and Stormfront landed in front of her in classic half-kneels, striking the ground with their fists. They rose as one and assessed the situation, looking around.

The civilians let out cheers.

“Stormfront’s here to save us!” one shouted.

“We love you, Homelander!” shouted another.

Homelander and Stormfront paused to wave at their fans before turning to regard Annie.

“Starlight, report,” Homelander barked.

“Superterror--” Annie started, then stopped as Homelander gave her a warning look. “Uh, that is, _Supervillain_ Kimiko Miyashiro showed up here while I was getting lunch. She attacked me. I defended myself.”

“Where is she now?” Homelander looked around.

“Two of her allies grabbed her and led her off into the crowd,” she said truthfully. Then, she embellished. “I had just set off a flash that blinded her, and I was blinking off sunspots, too. I’m not sure where she is now.”

“That’s my girl, flashing the neighborhood,” Stormfront joked. 

“Which way did they go?” Homelander pressed.

Annie pointed, generally, a little too far to the left. Hey, she was partially blind at the time, right? It made sense she might be a little off.  


“I’ll look around,” Homelander said. He looked at Stormfront. “Question her.”

“Eight-eight, buddy,” Stormfront said, smiling brightly.

Homelander shot up into the sky, speeding off in the direction Annie indicated.

Instead of switching into interrogation mode, Stormfront winked at Annie. “Baby’s first attempt on her life! I’m so proud.”

“I’m ecstatic,” Annie said dryly. “What’s eight-eight mean?”

Stormfront smiled. “It means… ‘Yes, sir, Homelander.’ Tell him that next time it’s appropriate, okay?”

“Okay, fine, whatever.” Sucking up to Homelander was not her priority. At this point, she just wanted to go back to her room and take a shower. She felt tired and dirty, not to mention sore. “You know, she tried to break my wrists.”

“Did she?” Stormfront’s face darkened. She gently touched Annie’s wrists. “She did that because you’re mine, and she wanted to hurt me. But it’s okay. Homelander and I will take care of you. We’ll kill her and any other damn animals like her.”

Annie’s stomach clenched at Stormfront’s racism. She saw Annie as enough of an ally to feel comfortable revealing that side around her. That made M.M. right to some degree: Stormfront and Annie were white ladies banding together with the ability for casual racism to be expressed between them. But Annie also knew he was wrong that it wouldn’t help the efforts to subvert Supe racism. By getting Stormfront to lower her guard, she would inevitably reveal something Annie could use to take her down.

“That’s… sweet of you,” Annie ventured. “Thank you.”

“Well, I’ve got to look after my top Stormchaser,” Stormfront said. She brushed the hair out of Annie’s face. “It’s not like I’d leave you to the dogs to ravage. Especially not when one actively spits in my face by trying to hurt you.”

Annie stared into Stormfront’s possessive eyes. She really did see Annie as… hers. It made a strange sort of sense. Stormfront had gone out of her way to dominate Annie back in the trailer, not hurt her as an enemy but subjugate her as an underling, to turn her into a loyal Stormchaser. Now, Annie belonged to Stormfront, as far as she seemed to be concerned.

It was a victory, a sense that resonated inside Annie. She vaguely recalled toasting with Stormfront ‘to victory,’ and this was one. Annie had successfully entered Stormfront’s close circle, and Annie melted in the heat of Stormfront’s intense gaze. There was something romantic in it, an old notion of belonging to one’s partner, a note of chivalry.

Of course, at the same time, it was absolutely terrifying. A murderer thought she owned Annie. It was useful for the time being, but the second Annie wanted out… Well, she was trapped. Something told her Stormfront wouldn’t easily release anything that belonged to her, even if it wanted to be free.

The air cracked as Homelander came back, landing beside them. “No sign anywhere. Did you get anything useful from her?”

“It’s all about me,” Stormfront said happily. “The Supervillain wanted to kill my Stormchaser to hurt me. Looks like I got a nemesis!”

Silently, Annie noted the possessive language. Annie was  _ her _ Stormchaser. Kimiko tried to kill Annie to hurt Stormfront because it was like she owned Annie. She was in so deep now, she better make use of it.

“Great,” he said sarcastically. “So happy for you.”

“Don’t be so glum.” Stormfront gave his shoulder a friendly pat, right on the golden eagle. “You’ll get your nemesis soon enough, one way better than that overly-pigmented piece of shit Supervillain.”

There it was again: an outspokenly racist comment in Annie’s vicinity. Stormfront was truly relaxed about showing Annie she was racist. Of course, that just rubbed in how unfair it was that Stormfront’s blackmail material on her was based around what the liberal media considered racist.

“Yeah, hopefully.” He smiled at Stormfront and then his smile dropped as he looked at Annie. “Get yourself cleaned up. I’m calling a meeting in an hour to discuss these developments.”

“Yes… ah, eight-eight?” Annie uncomfortably substituted the phrase.

He swung his head around and looked at Stormfront reproachfully.

Stormfront looked back at him and shrugged.

The two of them burst into giggles like schoolchildren who just heard a mention of something obscene.

“What?” Annie asked. “No, really, what? What does it mean?”

“It means what I told you,” Stormfront insisted amid giggles. “It means, ‘Yes, sir, Homelander.’ You used it correctly. Very good.”

“Yes, that’s what it means,” Homelander said in a blatant lie before giggling again.

Jackasses. 

“Cool,” Annie said, knowing she was the butt of whatever in-joke was between them. “Well, I’m going to go back to the tower now. I’ll see you in an hour.”

Homelander smiled. He pointed at the crowd and bellowed out, “Remember, you are the real heroes!”

Shooting up into the sky, he vanished in a sonic boom. The crowd applauded, happy to have been blessed by his presence.

Stormfront watched him leave and didn’t follow. Instead, she turned to Annie and offered her hand. “Come on, I’ll walk you back and make sure no Superterrorists hurt you on the way.”

It should have been unpleasant. Stormfront was taking an interest in protecting her property. It was dehumanizing.

However, Annie felt warmth. As fucked up as it was, Stormfront was the one person that day who showed Annie any kindness. She gratefully took Stormfront’s hand and let her lead her back.

Maybe being a Stormchaser wouldn’t entirely suck?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "88" is Neo-Nazi slang for "HH". Stormfront tricked Starlight into saying "Heil Hitler/Homelander". That's the joke.


	10. Bodies Politic

“Starlight, why aren’t you dressed properly?” Homelander demanded, his first words as he strode into the Seven conference room. His expression was hard as he stared at her.

“Uh…” Annie wore her old suit for practicality’s sake, because she had dark purple bruises in the shape of Stormfront’s hand visible on the part of her buttocks that her main suit left exposed. It even hurt just to sit. She glanced at Stormfront, slouching in the chair to her left.

Stormfront mischievously raised her eyebrows at her and smiled. It appeared she would offer no support.

Homelander should know, shouldn’t he? He was the one who told Annie to hide it in the first place. How else could she hide it?

She stared up at him, trying to communicate this with her eyes alone, glancing pointedly at Maeve, who shouldn’t be privy to these details. (She doubted Black Noir cared, while A-Train was low-key fired and would not be present for the meeting.) However, his expression remained hard, and she shrank under its intensity.

“My mistake,” Annie said finally, looking up at him apologetically. “It won’t happen again.”

“See that it doesn’t.” He glanced at Stormfront and winked.

Annie looked at Stormfront and saw her wink back. She noticed Annie watching her and grinned.

So… the two of them were just going to pick on Annie, then? Great. It wasn’t as if her job was hard enough, right?

“If you’re done bitching about protocols, maybe you could explain why we’re here,” Maeve complained, stretching. “I was enjoying a workout when you called.”

“Important matters,” he said tersely. He turned abruptly, causing his flag cape to fly up dramatically as he stalked to a computer screen. Hitting a remote, he brought up an image of Kimiko. “Supervillain Kimiko Miyashiro, sister to Supervillain Kenji Miyashiro, who Stormfront terminated--”

“Hell, yeah, I did!” Stormfront broke in. “Fucker killed fifty-nine people in five minutes. You think I was going to let him get away with that? Not on my watch!”

Maeve rolled her eyes.

It was strange. Annie knew Stormfront was a racist murderer--she probably enjoyed making that kill in a way she shouldn’t--but her actions in this circumstance made perfect sense. Kenji Miyashiro was a Superterrorist, and a Superhero took him out. Annie couldn’t fault Stormfront for that. It even brought Annie a small amount of comfort, knowing that the Superhero interested in her cared about doing her job the way all the Seven members should. For all her flaws, Stormfront _was_ a Superhero.

“Yes, we all know you’re the one who got to him first,” Homelander said, focused on her upstaging him. “Against my orders.”

“You were otherwise occupied,” Stormfront said. “Was I supposed to let him kill fifty-nine more people?”

“Can we please get to the point?” Maeve demanded. “If we finish up early, I can get back to training before everyone goes home.”

“Oh, yeah, ‘training.’” Stormfront made finger quotes. “The kind with Elena? Tell me, is it like the comics where you wear the chains, or does she wear the chains?”

“No one’s wearing any chains,” Maeve snapped. “That was one Vought writer with a fetish. My character hasn’t done that for decades!”

“So, I’m right!” Stormfront snapped her fingers. “This _is_ about you being horny!”

“Now, I did not say that!” Maeve pointed her finger at Stormfront. “I just said no one’s wearing chains.”

“In bed,” Stormfront finished. She turned her hand over, palm up, indicating that Maeve gave her something. “You implied in bed.”

“You assume!” Maeve shook her finger. “People can wear chains in all kinds of places!”

“So, you _are_ wearing chains!” Stormfront laughed, clapping her hands together. “I knew it!”

There was a familiar electric hum as Homelanders eyes burst into fiery red. “ _Shut up_! Both of you!”

They instantly fell silent, dropped their hands to their sides, and looked up at him deferentially.

Annie held her breath. This could go badly in a heartbeat if he thought they weren’t respectful enough.

He looked back and forth between them, warning them both with his lit-up lasers before closing his eyes. When he reopened them, they were their natural blue color. “The _point_ is that Miyashiro has it out for Stormfront.” 

Clicking his remote, the image of Kimiko was replaced with a video. It was shot from a camera phone with the crude vertical kind of framing from someone who knows nothing about filming action scenes, from someone present at the pizza place attack. There was a lot of pushing and shoving from people around the cameraperson and a lot of stuff blocked their view, but there were a few distinct shots of Annie fighting Kimiko, ending in a bright flash that cut off the video. He clicked the remote again and a few choice stills appeared, including one capturing Kimiko’s face twisted in anger.

“Mere hours ago, Starlight made a video endorsing Stormfront,” he said. “She called herself Stormfront’s top Stormchaser. Then the Supervillain tried to kill her. The connection is clear. Stormfront and Starlight are both targets. I have been informed that the two of them are scheduled for several upcoming team-up missions. I think this is wise. They are stronger together than apart. They can protect each other if either are threatened. As such, I am restricting Starlight’s movements for the time being. She will be Stormfront’s Stormchaser and not leave her side until the threat is resolved.”

Oh, shit. This had little to do with Kimiko. Homelander was taking advantage of this threat to help Stormfront dig her claws into Annie! She wouldn’t be able to get away to see Hughie!

Oh.

Right.

She wouldn’t need to. He dumped her. She was completely free to be Stormfront’s pawn.

Alarmed, Stormfront straightened in her chair. “Well, hang on. I do have things to do. Important things. I can’t have her dragging me down all the time. She can’t even fly!”

Annie should have been grateful Stormfront wasn’t thrilled either. Instead, it stung. Annie thought Stormfront liked her and felt rejected. Was flying that important?

“Well, tough,” he said. “I think the two of you need some bonding time. If you can’t trust Starlight to serve as your Stormchaser, that’s something you’ll need to work out.”

Stormfront grimaced.

“Uh, Stormfront doesn’t need to look after me 24/7?” Annie ventured to say. She intended it to be a firm assertion, but it came out as a question.

He looked at her like she was a moron for even suggesting it.

“Never mind,” she said quickly.

Fortunately, this was enough. His eyes slid off of her to take in the team as a whole.

“What do you mean by Stormchaser?” Maeve asked. “Is Starlight being demoted to sidekick?”

That was a good question. Annie looked to Homelander for the response.

“She’s not being demoted,” Stormfront said instead. “ _I’m_ being promoted.”

Homelander took a breath, seemingly annoyed at having to do this but having already resigned himself to do so. “Yes… Everyone, Stormfront is my… girlfriend. Until further notice, she will be my second-in-command. Starlight _will_ be her sidekick, but Stormfront’s getting promoted, and Starlight will keep the ranking of the rest of you.”

Stormfront leaned on the table toward Maeve. “That means _you_ have to do what _I_ say.”

“Eh, shut up. You’re glued to your sidekick,” Maeve reminded her. She leaned in with a smug smile. “She can’t even fly!”

Stormfront’s eyes darkened.

Black Noir leaned back and spread out his hands as if to say, ‘And what am I, chopped liver?’

“Sorry, Noir.” Homelander nodded in his direction. “You understand, a man’s got to take care of the woman he loves.”

There was a beat of silence. Homelander got an ‘Oh, shit’ expression on his face for an instant, and then it was gone.

“Aww!” Stormfront clutched her hands to her chest, looking at him with big doe-eyes like a lovesick teenager. Annie could practically see her eyes turn into hearts. “Oh, babe! I feel exactly the same way about you~!”

Homelander forced a toothy smile, but Annie could see his cringe.

Great. Stormfront would never look that way about Annie. She wasn’t the one Stormfront could show affection for in public, but she could look at Homelander like that when he didn’t even appreciate it. It wasn’t fair.

Maeve made retching sounds. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

Leaning into his performance, Homelander gave Stormfront a thumbs-up.

Stormfront grinned and responded with a sideways OK gesture, fingers pointed toward him. Huh. Must be something from hip-hop culture.

Sighing, Maeve looked at Annie. “So, Starlight, level with me. What exactly does she have on you?”

“Uh…” Annie froze up. She hadn’t expected Maeve to be so perceptive. “I… just like Stormfront?”

“She’s my number one fan,” Stormfront said, glancing at Maeve before returning her attention to Homelander.

“Of course, she is,” Maeve said, her voice dripping with bitter sarcasm. “There’s so _much_ to like.”

“I… do like Stormfront,” Annie said. “She’s not to everyone’s taste, but she… I like her.”

Maeve’s eyes drilled into hers, assessing. She smirked triumphantly when she found what she was looking for. “Oh. Got it. You ‘like’ her.”

“Maeve…” Homelander said warningly.

“What? No! That’s not what I meant!” Annie desperately looked at Stormfront, hoping she understood Annie hadn’t blabbed the secret.

Stormfront caught her eye and turned to coldly look at Maeve. “Whatever you think you know, you don’t.”

“Oh, no problem from me.” Maeve nodded at Annie. “She can like or ‘like’ whoever she wants. I’m just grossed out by her taste.”

“Hey, you want to rumble, hoplite?” Stormfront growled.

“Trust me, I have no desire whatsoever to put my hands on your body.” Maeve cringed and held up her hands like Stormfront was physically repugnant to her. It was rude, not to mention inaccurate. Surely, any bisexual woman would be able to see Stormfront’s hotness as well as Annie.

Stormfront’s lip pulled back in a snarl. Annie felt her EM field rapidly shift before she saw the purple electrical arcs dance around her fingertips.

“Waah, I can’t win an argument! Waah, I have to use my powers!” Maeve mocked. She looked at Homelander. “You’re seriously putting _her_ in charge of us?”

“Well…” He seemed to have second thoughts. “When we’re not in an active combat situation, you can report directly to me. When we are, well, her extensive experience will be invaluable.”

Stormfront nodded, smugly satisfied with the compliment. Her lightning vanished.

“Extensive combat experience? Like _what_ ?” Maeve demanded. “She’s a small-time Supe whose biggest experience is in gaining followers on social media websites! When I want to get popular on Twitter, I’ll ask her for advice. When it comes to fighting, she can take a step back and let those of us with _real_ combat experience show her how it’s done.”

Damn. If only Annie could tell Maeve how old Stormfront really was, maybe then she’d understand that Stormfront’s resume was a bit longer than the one she’d officially submitted. If only Annie could tell her about Liberty.

Stormfront narrowed her eyes at Maeve. “I’m sorry, who took out the mass-murdering Supervillain, again? Was it Queen Maeve? No. Was it the Deep? No. Oh, it must have been Black Noir, right? Right?!”

“You killed one person! One!” Maeve slammed her hand down on the table, making a crack in the polished glass. “Just because you’re fucking the boss doesn’t give you the ability to take over the Seven.”

“No, that would be my actual military talent,” Stormfront said. “Way to show appreciation for women’s accomplishments in the workplace!”

“Oh, _come_ on!” Maeve rolled her eyes.

“Ladies!” Homelander lit up his eyes.

Again, the effect was instantaneous. All fell silent. Everyone just looked at him, hoping their obedience would be enough to calm him.

“Maybe I haven’t made myself clear,” he said. “Stormfront is _my_ girlfriend. Show her _the same respect_ you show me. Stormfront, shut the fuck up. You’re embarrassing yourself.”

Annie felt a pang of sympathy for Stormfront. Even though Homelander let her have a bit of power, he had to emphasize her inferiority to himself. It was… a bit like Stormfront letting Annie have power over Ashley while emphasizing Annie’s relative inferiority to Stormfront. Huh. Maybe Stormfront knowing what that felt like would have a net gain.

Stormfront meekly raised her hand like she was a student asking permission in class. “Can I just say one thing?”

“ _What_?” His lasers flashed with growing intensity.

Stormfront swallowed. She looked at Annie and back at him. “I’m working a special job for Stan Edgar. I’m not supposed to reveal anything about it with people he doesn’t clear first. I can’t do that if I’m stuck in a missionary companionship with Blondie, here.”

A special job? Intriguing. Annie would have to see what she could learn about that one.

Homelander thought that over. His lasers dimmed until his eyes were normal again. “Very well. You can leave her when you need to do your task, but you’re responsible for her.”

Stormfront nodded. “Thank you. Eight-eight.”

There was that weird code phrase again. It was somehow funny when Annie said it but made sense when Stormfront said it? What did it mean?

Homelander tilted his chin up, accepting her display of submission.

“She… doesn’t need to be responsible for me,” Annie tried again. “I can…”

Homelander and Stormfront fixed her with their powerful, commanding gazes. They thought of Annie as their plaything, and she was beginning to feel like it.

She shut her mouth. Now was not the time to push the matter.

“You can’t,” Homelander said. He nodded at the computer screen, on which Kimiko glared daggers at her. “Clearly.”

“I’ll be good,” she promised.

Homelander nodded. He faced the screen again and put his hands on his hips. “While you and Stormfront enjoy yourselves, I’ll dedicate my time to tracking the Supervillain, finding her, and bringing back her head on a pike.”

“Wait, are you shackling me to Starlight because you’re mad I killed the last Supervillain?” Stormfront demanded.

“I called that kill!” Homelander spun around on his heels and stabbed his finger at Stormfront. “He was mine, and you knew it!”

“He massacred a housing complex!” Stormfront waved her hands in the air emphatically. “I had to take him out!”

“You could have babysat him!” Homelander insisted. “He was my Supervillain!”

“Ugh.” Maeve rubbed her temples. “I can’t believe I interrupted my afternoon with Elena for this shitshow.”

“Ha! I _knew_ it!”


	11. The Daily Stormfront

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work has been made with the great help of annie000expatriated. If you've ever felt an urge to read stories with POV characters being brutalized and raped by Homelander (and, let's face it, who hasn't?), go give her works a read.

When the meeting ended, Homelander approached Annie and Stormfront and stopped them from leaving when Maeve and Noir left. “Well, girls, I think it’s time you spend some quality time together. If you’re going to function as a team, you need to have cohesion.”

He intersected his fingers. “To fit together fluidly, one piece inside the other, to become a single unit.”

Annie narrowed her eyes. This was having a certain sound to it, a certain innuendo that she wasn’t sure he intended. She certainly wouldn’t embarrass herself by calling attention to it, though.

“You want us to fuck,” Stormfront said bluntly. “That’s why you’re only shackling me to her and not, like, bringing Maeve or Noir in to guard us, right?”

“Now, Stormfront, I won’t stand for that kind of crass language,” he said with an air of humor in his voice. He shook a finger at her. “This is about your protection and team cohesion in the face of danger from a unique threat only I am prepared to deal with. But if you two _should_ find yourselves overcome with womanly lusts, who am I to get in the way of that?”

Uncomfortable, Annie tried to force a smile. 

“Yeah, figures.” Stormfront nodded.

“And to that end,” he continued, “I insist that you no longer live separately but in the same domicile. Starlight, your things have been moved to Stormfront’s room. You will no longer be needing your old room. It will be kept locked until we have use of it again.”

“You’re taking away my room?” Annie was stunned by the loss of autonomy. Homelander and Stormfront were making Annie be Stormfront’s sidekick, a diminutive role usually relegated to interns, and her independence was vanishing before her eyes. She was less and less Starlight, a member of the Seven, and more and more Stormchaser #1, Stormfront’s bitch.

“And you’re making me babysit her?” Stormfront added, sounding annoyed. When Annie looked at her, she amended, “I mean… ‘Yay, new pet…’”

Oh, did she have to phrase it like that? So overtly? Where other people could hear it?

Annie glanced around to see if anyone else was nearby but, fortunately, they were alone. Only Homelander heard, and he already knew Stormfront thought of her that way.

As if sensing Annie’s thoughts, he gave her a wink before smiling at Stormfront. “I know you’ll enjoy her company. There will be ample opportunity to train her up, if you catch my drift.”

“I’m _already_ training her up,” Stormfront whined. She turned and studied Annie for a moment. “Though, I suppose having her accessible wouldn’t be too bad.”

Those weren’t the most comforting of statements from the people exploiting Annie. She got a sinking feeling about what that ‘training’ would entail and showed Stormfront that forced smile.

Stormfront’s answering smile looked unforced and considerably more wicked.

“There, you see?” He smiled and wrapped his arms around their shoulders in a friendly gesture. With a slight movement, he shoved Annie and Stormfront up against each other, chest to chest.

“Oof,” Annie grunted. Smacking into Stormfront wasn’t wholly unpleasant, but with neither of them prepared, it had a quality in common with tripping and falling, onto a surface whose soft outer layers did little to ease the discomfort of its hard jabbing edges.

Stormfront herself stumbled and let out a little grunt as she fell into Annie.

“Now… kiss.” Homelander tapped the backs of their heads, pushing their faces against each other like he was a child, and they were his dolls.

Annie and Stormfront hurried to obey, pressing their lips together for chaste little kisses. Stormfront laid her hand on Annie’s hip, and Annie copied her, placing her own hand on Stormfront’s hip. It was a mockery of their romantic interest, going through the motions, devoid of passion. They looked at him with their eyes, making sure this was what he wanted.

In its own way, his smug smile was a source of comfort. As long as he was satisfied, it wouldn’t get worse. He leaned side to side, enjoying their kiss from different angles. Finally, he straightened and eased them apart, shifting them so they faced him. “You like that, girls?”

They assured him they did, smiling and nodding. Annie giggled for good measure, playing off her humiliation as simple embarrassment.

Yeah… that wasn’t at all sexist and degrading, you prick.

“Well, I won’t hold you up any longer. You two still have to get situated in your new living conditions.” He winked, leaving no ambiguity on how he expected them to get situated. “Have fun, girls.”

Putting on their fake smiles, they headed out to Stormfront’s room. As soon as they entered the hallway and left Homelander behind, Stormfront dropped hers, and Annie was quick to follow. She studied Stormfront’s face, trying to figure out if she resented Homelander at all but just saw general annoyance.

“You… you know, he sees you as his lesser,” Annie tried, hoping she could get through to Stormfront. If this incident could make her realize what an asshole Homelander was, maybe she’d realize that it didn’t make sense to view relationships like hierarchies and forget this whole thing about making Annie her bitch. It was worth a try, at least.

“Shut up, Starlight,” Stormfront snapped. “He has his fun. I have mine.”

Annie fell silent. Well, maybe it would sink in over time? She could only hope.

Entering Stormfront’s room, Annie was struck by how empty it looked. Some renovation had been done recently, with scaffolding still in place, and most of the furniture had been removed. Open boxes containing Annie’s personal possessions rested in the middle of the living space. The couch and chairs were gone, leaving only a small black cabinet underneath Stormfront’s Viking women painting.

“Yeah, I guess I’m staying here,” Annie said aloud, trying to make the idea feel less awkward by giving voice to it. She stuck her head in the bedroom and noted Stormfront’s queen-sized bed and no other sleeping arrangements. “Only one bed…? Yeah, of course.”

It figured. Homelander set this up so that Annie would sleep in Stormfront’s bed with her and that they’d have sex. This whole thing, more or less, was for his lesbian sex fantasy.

Stormfront joined her. She glanced at her bed and back at Annie. She raised her eyebrows. “Well, I suppose it would only be classy--my noblesse oblige, if you will--to sleep on the floor and offer you the bed.”

Annie sighed in relief. She could forgive that nod to Stormfront considering herself nobility for the benefit of receiving her obligated courtesy. “That’s so good to hear…”

“But I won’t,” Stormfront finished. She shrugged, smirking. “The bed is mine. I’ll be sleeping in it. You can take the floor. Or, if you like, you can try begging to be allowed in bed with me. I might say yes.”

“Uh…” Well, both of those options were degrading and left Annie acknowledging Stormfront’s superiority over her, didn’t they? She went over to the phone and picked up the handset. “I’ll just call housekeeping and see if they can bring a second bed in.”

“They won’t,” Stormfront predicted. “Not because they can’t. Homelander set this up. My guess is, they’re more afraid of him on his best days than you on your worst.”

Annie set the handset back in its cradle. Stormfront was right; there was a reason housekeeping brought her possessions but nothing else. “I guess I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“If you like.” Stormfront shrugged. She walked over to the bed and ran her shoe along the space beside it. “If you want my advice, here is an ideal spot. Right where I can look down at you from the bed. It’ll be like a slumber party.”

“The kind where your girlfriend is on the ground, and you’re above her in the bed,” Annie groused. It wasn’t fair. Homelander pushing Stormfront around should make her realize it was wrong to push anyone around; instead, she just turned to Annie and pushed her around. It was like a daisy chain of pointless bullying.

“Yes, that kind of slumber party,” Stormfront said dryly. She drew Annie’s attention to a large wardrobe against the opposite wall. “Go ahead and unpack. I’ll be back in a bit. I have some things to do.”

“For Stan Edgar?” Annie perked up, eager to hear about this secret mission.

“In a manner of speaking,” Stormfront said. She narrowed her eyes, studying Annie. “Maybe if you’re really good… or really bad… I’ll show you what I’ve been working on. But not today.”

“Really… bad?” Annie repeated, confused. Was Stormfront offering details about her secret mission as a reward for putting out or something?

“Yeah… I can’t tell you what that means without you knowing everything, sorry.” Stormfront chuckled. Her demeanor then switched to that of a strict authoritarian. She pointed at Annie and snapped a command. “Stay!”

“What?” Annie blinked. Did… Did Stormfront just tell her to ‘stay’ like she was a dog? Did that just fucking happen?

“Stay!” Stormfront repeated. “I won’t be gone long. Be a good bitch for me, okay?”

“Uh…” Annie stared at her, amazed at her gall. Casually calling Annie a bitch and asking her to agree with it? “Okay.”

Stormfront’s bitch… That was Annie now. Stormfront was totally committed to that idea, and Annie couldn’t dissuade her. Maybe it was time Annie just accept that this was how Stormfront would think of her?

Flashing a charming smile, Stormfront breezed out the door and shut it behind her, leaving Annie alone in her room. In Stormfront’s room, which was now also Annie’s room. She was Stormfront’s bitch in Stormfront’s room. This arrangement was an awful corruption of Annie’s initial desires for a relationship with her crush, and she saw no way out of it.

The only thing to do was unpack. She carried one of the boxes from the living room to the bedroom, made room in the wardrobe and put away her things. When she finished with one box, she went and got another. The task was oddly comforting. She was making a new life in her new circumstances, preparing for the future.

When she went back to the living room for the last box, she paused to stretch and looked around at the Viking art. Stormfront’s tastes were kind of a weird hybrid of elegant and savage. Beautiful picture frames of polished wood rendered in extravagant runic imagery capped in pinwheel shapes housed dramatic paintings of struggles for survival against the elements and rages of war. They were exciting, graceful, and repugnant all at once. Beneath one was that strange axe with the sticks tied around it; beneath the other, a simple cabinet.

She inspected the axe. Its blade was standard enough; a sharp head that could mess up a human pretty bad if the wielder swung it into them. However, the shaft was all distorted by the surrounding sticks. It would be unwieldy to actually use. As she examined it and imagined gripping it in her hands, the purpose slowly became clear. 

Regardless of how wieldy it was, the sticks surrounding the shaft would strengthen it, make it firm and protect it from damage. It wasn’t a weapon, really. It was a symbol of strength from several things being brought together into a unified whole. In its own strange, savage way, it was inspirational. Stormfront was a warrior, but she was intelligent and knew that people were stronger in groups than apart.

Maybe that was something Annie could learn from? Living with Stormfront, being her sidekick… Homelander and Stormfront were going out of their way to make that one-sided, putting Stormfront on top in every interaction, but Annie could benefit from a long-standing team-up. Together, they were stronger.

Feeling better about her new position in the Seven, Annie turned away from the axe and examined the artwork behind her. She peered at the small black cabinet underneath. It looked like it might hold booze, but it also resembled an old record player her mother had. She knew Stormfront kept her Jagermeister in the kitchenette. Curious, she wandered over and examined it closer.

Despite appearances, the cabinet didn’t actually have doors on the front, just a top that could be lifted. It certainly looked like it held a record player. She placed her fingers on the edge and gently lifted upwards, swinging the top open on a back hinge. It actually was some kind of trunk, and the contents were… 

Annie’s mouth fell open. This was… She blinked.

The cabinet was filled with chunky dark metal objects, colored in Stormfront’s signature theme of black, burgundy, and steel gray. At first, she thought they could be weapons but closer examination revealed they were undoubtedly kinky sex toys of a certain… dominatrix flavor. There was what looked like a small whip, paddles of different sizes and colors, a riding crop, and things she had no clue what they were except kinky.

She picked up the riding crop, black with a burgundy tip. It was made of dense metal, heavy in her hands. She doubted a normal person could lift it. Yet, it was structured in a way that it was still springy, good for its intended purpose of hitting someone and causing a nasty sting. It was a sex toy for Supes, to be wielded by a Supe and to be used on a Supe.

Shivering, she set it down and picked up something else: a steel grey paddle with a familiar American flag design on it. It was the same one Stormfront wore on her cute little steel armbands. It was patriotic but in a way she didn’t really like. Being hit with this would just hurt, regardless of how all-American its wielder was. She set it down and moved on to the next most interesting thing.

The whip thing was both visually and tactilely interesting. It had a black handle with burgundy appendages--the whippy parts--sticking out of one end. Like the others, each part was made of a dense metal for use on Supes. The whip parts were suitably flexible, actually composed of several parts linked together in a zig-zag shape reminiscent of Stormfront’s lightning bolt arm-guards. She fingered the whip parts, feeling their bumps and letting them drape over her hands.

The door opened.

“I’m back,” Stormfront said, coming inside. “You get all unpa--? Wait, what are you doing?”

Annie straightened, her blood rushing to her face. Oh, God. She opened her mouth to make a denial, but what of? She was obviously snooping through Stormfront’s private, personal, so kinky things! Shuddering, she stood transfixed under Stormfront’s gaze.

Stormfront stared. A trace of amusement flickered on her face. “That’s a flogger.”

Annie realized she was still holding the whip thing in her hands. “A… flogger?”

“Yes…” Stormfront said slowly in a talking-to-idiots voice. “Want me to show you how it works?”

“How it…?” Annie had a sneaking suspicion Stormfront wanted to trick Annie into letting her use it on her. Annie carefully set it back in the trunk.

“I trust you’ve learned a valuable lesson about snooping through other people’s things?” Stormfront snapped.

“Yes, sorry,” Annie said quickly. “It won’t happen again! I promise!”

“Hmm…” Stormfront cocked her head. “Maybe I should have had typing ADELLE trigger a porno clip? I wouldn’t have needed to blackmail you if I could have just embarrassed you into submission.”

“So, there’s no need to blackmail me anymore, right?” Annie asked hopefully.

Stormfront glared. “Technically, I should pull the trigger on the redface memes right now. You did do something sneaky, poking through my things! But since I’m a kind, benevolent humanitarian, I’ll let it go… this time. Consider yourself on thin ice, Starlight.”

Annie winced. “Sorry, Stormfront. I really didn’t mean to. I just wanted…”

She trailed off as Stormfront continued to glare. Turning away from her gaze, Annie closed the trunk and hid the kinky toys from sight. If only she could banish them from her mind.

Stormfront sighed. Flipping up her cape on her arm, Stormfront walked into the bedroom, over to the bed, and laid down, stretching out. It made a point: it was her room, her bed, and she held the power.

She was so insecure. Annie felt bad for her. Though, as Stormfront continued to push her around, Annie’s patience was rapidly diminishing. Whether or not Stormfront was insecure seemed less and less significant.

Annie walked over and paused in front of the bed. She wanted to show Stormfront she cared, that she was committed to being a good sidekick for her. If that was Annie’s new role in the Seven, she was going to do it to the height of her ability.

Stormfront looked at her challengingly. She raised an eyebrow.

“I think I get that axe you have there,” Annie said, jabbing a finger in its direction. “It symbolizes people coming together, to be stronger as a group.”

“Unity, yeah,” Stormfront confirmed. Though still tense, she noticeably cooled off as she spoke. “It’s called a ‘fasces’. The idea comes from ancient Rome. It shows up in a lot of American artwork. ‘From many, one’ used to be the national motto before 1956. Separate peoples, coming together to serve the state, forming the body of a great nation, accepting the wisdom of its governance. It’s a beautiful sentiment, Starlight.”

Annie nodded. “I get that. Um. I’m kind of like the sticks, right? And you’re like the axe? And we’re stronger together than apart?”

Stormfront sat up, her eyes shining with delight. “Yes, yes! Exactly! You support me, and I’m stronger with you… You _are_ a Stormchaser, Starlight!”

Oh. Joy.

Forcing a smile came easier this time with Stormfront looking happy with Annie. Honestly, she kind of enjoyed pleasing her like that. As strange as it was, the smile was easy to force because it was a real smile.

“I’m Stormchaser #1,” Annie claimed. It was a joke. And maybe it wasn’t. After all, she did like Stormfront more than anyone… except for the obvious racism thing. Annie forced a laugh. It was a joke.

“You’re getting there,” Stormfront said seriously. “Give me a year, you won’t believe the things I’ll get you thinking.” She winked.

Annie laughed for real. Like Stormfront could somehow get Annie to think any differently! What did Stormfront think she was? A self-help guru? “So, what exactly does being a Stormchaser entail?”

“Chasing the Stormfront,” Stormfront said. “Do as I say and as you think I’d want. Just, you know, support me. You’ve done a great job already. Keep it up. I’ve also made arrangements for you to sing for me.”

“Sing for you?” Annie asked.

“On TV, like you did for the Translucent memorial,” Stormfront said. “Except, this time, you’ll sing one of my favorite songs, a nice Viking song, just to show how much you respect me.”

Annie nodded. “So, it’s a power dynamic thing? _I_ perform for _you_ , and you want everyone to see that?”

“Something like that.” Stormfront smiled. “You perform for me, being my Stormchaser. What you’re mostly doing is advertising me, advocating for my brand, and giving my existing followers a nice celebrity they can rally around while ultimately just following me.”

Annie blinked, stunned at the convoluted power play Stormfront was planning. “Wow. You’ve really thought this through, huh?”

“Just because _you_ don’t like to use your brain doesn’t mean no one does,” Stormfront said. “Some of us don’t expect to get through life on flawless skin alone.”

Wow, an insult and a compliment in the same breath. Annie wasn’t sure how to feel about that one. She furrowed her brow and looked at Stormfront without answering.

Stormfront cocked her head. “Aw, don’t hurt your poor brains worrying about it, my cute little dummy.”

“Do you have to be so mean all the time?” Annie complained.

“Yes,” Stormfront said, smiling brightly. “I am obligated to be mean. It’s part of the essential Stormfront package. Idiot.”

“Well, I suppose I walked into that one.” Annie sat on the bed beside Stormfront and looked at her shyly. “You know, I liked you as soon as I saw you. Even though you’re rude, I… Well, I still like you.”

Stormfront tilted her head, basking in Annie’s adoration. “I know you do. And you have me now, a daily Stormfront in your life from now on.”

Yes, Annie invited the vampire into her home, and it was here to stay. A part of her loved that; it gave her a thrill. Another part, the wiser part, recognized the danger in having this cruel murderess take an active interest in her life, and she felt a cool chill of dread run through her.

As though she had an idea of the thoughts warring in Annie’s brain, Stormfront smirked. “Don’t worry about it, babe. You hungry? You want me to order room service?”

Annie found herself nodding. “Yeah. Sounds good.”

It was dangerous, yes. Stormfront was a killer. But she was of Annie’s people, and Annie had some natural protection from her. With Superterrorists and God knows what else out there, having an experienced fighter like Stormfront on her side would be reassuring. The least Annie could do was support her in anything that wasn’t racist. Maybe this team-up was exactly what the both of them needed?


End file.
